Sinograph Addenda · Signs

得get · dé · to get, obtain; succeed

get

Where it comes from

The oldest forms show a hand closing on a cowrie shell — money found — sometimes already with the road-step at the left: picking up value on the way. The modern right half has worn the shell past recognizing, but the left-hand road survives. Taught in the can-get-want chapter.

How to remember it

The road-step at the left; at the right a cowrie worn flat by time, with a hand closing under it: value picked up on the way — get.

In the wild