<p><a href="http://www.zdic.net/z/25/sw/905E.htm" rel="nofollow">说文解字：更易也。从辵虒聲。</a></p>

<p>Actually, 遞=辵+虒, it's a <a href="http://www.chineselearner.com/writing/characters/pictophonetic.html" rel="nofollow">pictophonetic character</a> which original meaning is "to alternate".</p>

<p>The meaning radical(形旁) 辵 carries the basic meaning "to walk one moment and stop the next".</p>

<p>The sound radical(声旁) 虒 only indicates the pronunciation of 遞(dì).</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-09-01T17:01:21.733Z
2015-09-01T17:01:21.733Z
cress
<p><strong>遞</strong> is most commonly used, nowadays, to mean &quot;to pass&quot; -or- &quot;to give&quot;.</p>
<p>Here's the definition of its simplified counterpart <em>递</em> given on <a href="http://zisea.com/htm/90/9012.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">zisea</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>①传送，传达：传～。投～。～送。～交。～眼色（以目示意）。呈～国书。</p>
<p>②顺着次序：～补。～变。～增。～减。～升。～降。</p>
<p>③古代指驿车。</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I can only see 遞 (辶 + (厂 + 虎)) as <em>the walking tiger factory</em>, which I'm sure is quite absurd, but even <em>虒</em> is defined, on <a href="http://zisea.com/htm/86/8652.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">zisea</a>, again, as</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“委～”古书上说的一种似虎有角的兽。</p>
</blockquote>
<p>in which case we have 遞 = 辶 + 虒, or <em>the moving sī</em>...</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Why is 遞 (meaning to give, to pass) = (辶 + (厂 + 虎))?</p>
</li>
<li><p>Etymology?</p>
</li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-09-02T06:11:56.117Z
厂 doesn't actually mean factory as a radical, it just happened to come to mean this when simplified chinese made it a character on its own that meant this (traditional: 厰). It's also not usually worth taking chinese characters for their literal components. Some characters do work like this, such as 休, but almost 90% of characters are phono-semantic -- one part shows meaning while the other shows how to pronounce it (see cress' answer)
sqrtbottle
<characters><etymology><glyph-origin>
Why is 遞 = (辶 + (厂 + 虎))?
# Why is 遞 = (辶 + (厂 + 虎))?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-09-01)

**遞** is most commonly used, nowadays, to mean "to pass" -or- "to give".

Here's the definition of its simplified counterpart *递* given on [zisea](http://zisea.com/htm/90/9012.htm):

> ①传送，传达：传～。投～。～送。～交。～眼色（以目示意）。呈～国书。
>
> ②顺着次序：～补。～变。～增。～减。～升。～降。
>
> ③古代指驿车。

I can only see 遞 (辶 + (厂 + 虎)) as *the walking tiger factory*, which I'm sure is quite absurd, but even *虒* is defined, on [zisea](http://zisea.com/htm/86/8652.htm), again, as

> “委～”古书上说的一种似虎有角的兽。

in which case we have 遞 = 辶 + 虒, or *the moving sī*...

* Why is 遞 (meaning to give, to pass) = (辶 + (厂 + 虎))?
* Etymology?

**Tags:** characters, etymology, glyph-origin

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: 厂 doesn't actually mean factory as a radical, it just happened to come to mean this when simplified chinese made it a character on its own that meant this (traditional: 厰). It's also not usually worth taking chinese characters for their literal components. Some characters do work like this, such as 休, but almost 90% of characters are phono-semantic -- one part shows meaning while the other shows how to pronounce it (see username_2' answer)  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2015-09-01. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

[说文解字：更易也。从辵虒聲。](http://www.zdic.net/z/25/sw/905E.htm)

Actually, 遞=辵+虒, it's a [pictophonetic character](http://www.chineselearner.com/writing/characters/pictophonetic.html) which original meaning is "to alternate".

The meaning radical(形旁) 辵 carries the basic meaning "to walk one moment and stop the next".

The sound radical(声旁) 虒 only indicates the pronunciation of 遞(dì).


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