须
xū · HSK 7
must
🧔 Originally the beard (彡 hair + 页 head); borrowed to mean must, have to
彡 is the hair strokes and 页 is the head, so 须 first named the beard on a face. It got reused for the sense must or necessary. Sound hook: xū rhymes with shoe, and you must put on a shoe to go out.
须 — 彡 (hair strokes) + 頁 (head)
Originally a pictograph showing hair (彡) on a head (頁), depicting a beard or whiskers on a face. The original 'beard' meaning was later written as 鬚, while 须 was borrowed for the abstract sense 'must, need, require.' This phonetic loan usage is now the dominant meaning.