卫

衛
wèi
#668 most
frequent character
to guard, to protect, to defend

Character breakdown

Source: Make Me a Hanzi.

卫 is a short form of 韋, the old form of 衛. That old shape showed feet walking around a city, so the first sense was 'to patrol an area'. From there it grew to 'guard, defend' and 'protect'.

Drawn as: feet walking around city

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Same Characters, Different Readings

卫Wei4
surname Wei

Homophones

HSK 3
位wèi
position, location, place, seat
HSK 5
胃wèi
stomach
HSK 5
畏wèi
to fear
慰wèi
to comfort, to console, to reassure
魏wèi
tower over a palace gateway (old)

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