Explore each form from the oldest known stage to today.
The character 摘 evolved from ancient pictographs showing a hand (扌) performing an action. In Liushutong, the form L28070 shows the radical for hand combined with elements indicating 'to pick' or 'pluck.' The modern form 摘 clearly shows the hand radical with 啇, which phonetically suggests 'di' while semantically relating to selective action. Originally meaning 'to pick' or 'pluck' (as in picking flowers or fruits), it extended to mean 'to select,' 'to point out,' or 'to expose' (as in摘发 - expose). The character embodies the concept of precise manual selection or extraction. Arrived in Japan: The character 摘 likely arrived in Japan during the Yayoi period (300 BCE-300 CE) or early Kofun period (250-538 CE) through cultural exchange with China, and was formally adopted into the Japanese writing system with the introduction of Chinese characters (kanji) around the 5th century CE. It appears in early Japanese texts and is included in standard kanji sets used in Japan.