氏
zhī
#1,498 most
frequent character
see 月氏[Yue4 zhi1] and 閼氏|阏氏[yan1 zhi1]
Character breakdown
Source: Make Me a Hanzi.
氏 is a picture of a mallet-shaped object. That was its first meaning. 'Clan name' was borrowed for its sound, and from there it grew to family name or surname.
Drawn as: mallet-shaped object
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