Image: Lynn Fawcett
Image: Lynn Fawcett

This is an ideograph that combines a webbed foot with the contour of an area. In other words, it refers to the shape or form of a water bird. It was used as a classifier (counter or measure word) for cormorants.

Cormorants are renowned divers, so perhaps a modern translation might be the word diver.


Illustrative Text Reference:

Mohenjo-daro: Tablet: M-1429 A: Asko Parpola, B. M. Pande, and Petteri Koskikallio, 2010: Corpus of Indus Seals and Inscriptions: Volume 3,1: Page 386: New material, untraced objects, and collections outside India and Pakistan: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia.

Comment:

This symbol takes up the full height of the character area.


Image Credit:

Diver: Lynn Fawcett, 2017.