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In [RADKFILE](http://nihongo.monash.edu/kradinf.html), the only radical 暇{ひま},
霞{かすみ} and 蝦{えび} share is 又. It doesn't have anything for the two other
distinct parts of 叚.

I haven't seen the parts in other kanji, except that the left one looks a bit
like 尸 with two additional strokes and the top right one looks like the
katakana コ ([which was derived from
己](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Katakana_origine.svg)).

What are they?
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kanji radicals
What are the left and top right part of 叚（暇{ひま}・霞{かすみ}・蝦{えび}…）?
# 叚

[Here](https://ja.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%8F%9A) you can find the meaning or
the relating information.
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As snailplane said, RADKFILE is not a source of information on the history of
kanji components, their hierarchical decompositions, or their original
rationale.

The origin of 叚 is unclear. Its old meaning is "false", "provisional", and 又
is [a pictograph for the right hand, often grasping
something](http://www.chineseetymology.org/CharacterEtymology.aspx?submitButton1=Etymology&characterInput=%E5%8F%88)
(indicating tool use, actions, etc.):

[![又 Oracle Bone
form](https://i.stack.imgur.com/jkETQ.gif)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/jkETQ.gif)
[![又 Seal
form](https://i.stack.imgur.com/JXdWv.gif)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/JXdWv.gif)

You can see in [the early forms of
叚](http://www.chineseetymology.org/CharacterEtymology.aspx?characterInput=%E5%8F%9A)
that コ probably comes from another hand, facing the other way (the kind that
in most kanji resulted in a ヨ shape):

[![叚 Bronze
form](https://i.stack.imgur.com/NWije.gif)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/NWije.gif)

The left side seems like some sort of cover or container with horizontal
markings inside. According to Tōdō's interpretation this could be showing the
act of "hiding" items, related to them being "false". Sears thinks it's "a
hand with a flint knife striping a skin off an animal", but that feels like a
stretch to me; though other people (like Harbaugh) also connect the left part
to an altered "skin" (皮). Shirakawa thinks it's an unpolished jewel cut off
from a mountain, but Shirakawa is insane and basically always wrong. In
summary, there seems to be no consensus.

Since all of 暇蝦霞假瑕葭遐碬豭赮騢 are pronounced カ (with 蝦霞碬赮騢 also sharing ゲ and 假碬豭
ケ), the common presence of 叚 in them is certainly for phonetic reasons.

(All images from Sear's [Chinese Etymology](http://www.chineseetymology.org/)
website.)
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The original meaning is not universally agreed upon, but the structural
composition is not ambiguous. The earliest form of 「叚」 is comprised of 「石」 on
the left and [「又」](http://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/yanbian?kaiOrder=20) on
the right.

`[西周](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Zhou)  
[金](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_bronze_inscriptions)  
[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Bfdw4.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Bfdw4.png)  
盠尊  
[集成6013](http://www.guoxuedashi.com/yzjwjc/?bh=6013&jgwfl=)`

> Please refer to [What is the etymology of the kanji
> 石?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/65938/what-is-the-
> etymology-of-the-kanji-%e7%9f%b3/65940#65940) for a more detailed overview
> of「石」. Key points:
>
>   * 「石」was originally a picture of stone chimes.
>   * 「口」was not present originally, being added as a [distinguishing
> component](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/45298/is-there-a-
> difference-in-drawing-between-the-mouth-and-enclosure-kanji-
> radic/60353#60353) to mark the name of a region.
>   * What looks like a cover「厂」in later forms was a graphical reduction of
> the stone chime shape.
>   * The two horizontal marks that appear in some forms are _decorative_
> (Chinese: 飾筆), and don't contribute to any semantic or phonetic function
> (decorative marks are also seen in modern forms of many characters
> like「魚」and「甚」).
>

`[春秋](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_and_Autumn_period)  
金  
[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/iQkdC.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/iQkdC.png)  
曾伯陭壺  
[集成9712](http://www.guoxuedashi.com/yzjwjc/?bh=9712&jgwfl=)``[秦](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qin_dynasty)  
[簡](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bamboo_and_wooden_slips)  
[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/wBHxS.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/wBHxS.png)  
秦律十八77  
[睡虎地秦簡](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuihudi_Qin_bamboo_texts)``今  
[楷](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_script)  
[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/rneYz.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/rneYz.png)  
  
`

Afterwards, [「刀」](http://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/yanbian?kaiOrder=14) was
added to the top-right. The modern form of 「叚」 should be seen as composed from
「石」 (left, inherited from a form with decorative marks and no 「口」 ), 「刀」 (top
right), and 「又」 (bottom right).

* * *

## References:

  * 林義光《文源》
  * 何琳儀《說文準聲首輯佚》
  * 季旭昇《說文新證》
  * [小學堂](http://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/)
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