篇幅
piān fu · HSK 7
length
📃📏 篇 = article/essay + 幅 = width of cloth = how much page an article takes up
篇 is the counter for written pieces; 幅 is the counter for flat wide things like cloth or scrolls. Together they measure the width or extent a piece of writing occupies on the page.
篇 — bamboo radical 竹 (⺮) + 扁 biǎn (phonetic)
篇 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The bamboo top (⺮) points to bamboo strips, the writing material of early China, while 扁 supplies the sound. It originally meant a bundle of inscribed bamboo slips tied together, and from there came to mean a chapter, essay, or written piece.
幅 — cloth radical 巾 + 畐 (full)
A semantic-phonetic compound: 巾 (cloth) gives the meaning, since 幅 originally referred to the width of a bolt of cloth. 畐 supplies the sound, related to 'fu'. The meaning later broadened to 'width' in general and to a measure word for paintings or scrolls.