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The Etymology of 袋

The kanji 袋 has the “clothing” radical 衣 at the bottom, where it’s called koromo-ashi. This shape usually means “clothing” but means “cloth” in this case. On top we find 代, which means “to replace” but acts phonetically to express “container” here. So 袋 is a “cloth container,” which is to say a “bag” or “pouch.”

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