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服 by itself means "clothing" (e.g. 服を着る), and there are also some related
derivative terms like 私服, 制服, 和服, 洋服, etc. On the other hand, you have words
like 征服 "conquest", 克服 "overcoming", 承服 "compliance", 服従 "obedience", which I
have broadly classed as being related to the idea of "submission".

How did 服 come to have these two seemingly-unrelated meanings? Is this a
purely Japanese innovation, or is it like this in Chinese too?
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kanji etymology
How did 服 come to have meanings related to both "clothing" and "submission"?
The [Online Kanji Etymology
Dictionary](http://www.kanjinetworks.com/eng/kanji-dictionary/online-kanji-
etymology-dictionary.cfm?kanji_id=PUAK06) has some rather terse notes on how
these two meanings came to be. _A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters_
(Henshall) describes its history as:

> Once written ![](https://i.stack.imgur.com/AMdmY.jpg) showing a boat 舟, a
> person 卩, and a hand 又. [...] The early meaning is known to have been
> **work** , and some scholars feel that it meant literally bend down in order
> to work on [a boat]. **Yield/serve** is felt to derive from a combined idea
> of bending down and performing work. How exactly it came to mean **clothes**
> , however, is not clear. It is assumed to be a borrowed meaning, though it
> is also possible that 服 once came by extension to indicate a **servant's
> livery**.

Going back to the Online Kanji Etymology Dictionary, you can see that the
original form (![](https://i.stack.imgur.com/AMdmY.jpg)) had 舟 (boat) replaced
with 肉 (⺼; flesh) in seal script (![](https://i.stack.imgur.com/PpxzN.jpg)),
which may be where "clothes" comes from---"clothes that spread over/cling to
the body".
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It's a question about Chinese rather than Japanese. The word 服從 once appeared
in [Book of Rites](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Rites)
(道合則服從，不可則去。Obey if you share the same idea, or else leave), and the meaning
of clothes once appeared in
[ZhanGuoCe](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhan_Guo_Ce) (朝服衣冠 put up clothes in
the morning). Both of them were from Chinese thousands of years ago.

According to this [link](http://www.vividict.com/WordInfo.aspx?id=3534), 服
meant to put shackles on prisoners when it was invented. Then its derivative
meanings forked here: to put something on, or to force someone obey or accept.
From the latter, there once again derived a new meaning 服用 to take (medicine).
CC BY-SA 3.0
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answer
As this is a Chinese character, I think it would be easier to describe it in
Chinese Historical War terms.

The traditions of clothing, is actually determined by a dynasty. Notice one of
the major changes during any Chinese civil war or revolution is the changes of
clothing. Good Example: Tang Dynasty clothing or Qing Dynasty clothing. In
fact, if peasants refuses to change the way how they dress (even the way how
hair looks), the peasants then will be considered as being against the
government.

Ideogrammic compound: 卩 (“kneeling person”) + 又 (“spread hands”) + ⺼
(“person's back”) = a kneeling person attending another person's back.

Another very interesting way to look at clothing: there was an idioms named
"被发左衽" (as the way how Mongolians dress). The saying of "Chinese might ended
up 被发左衽" literally means that Chinese might ended up losing their country to
Mongolians.
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answer
The semantic extension of「服」is in the following sequence:

  1. _Submission_ , _subdue_ , or _serve_
  2. _Servant clothing_ or _uniform_
  3. _Clothing_

These meanings were found in Chinese before importation into Japanese. Compare
similar English words using terms of clothing to describe the status of a
person ( _blue-collar_ , _white-collar_ ).

> 「服」( _submission_ ) can be seen as representing a similar or identical word
> to「伏」( _prostrate, bend down_ ); they are both [_Baxter-
> Sagart_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconstructions_of_Old_Chinese#Baxter%E2%80%93Sagart_\(2014\))
> [_OC_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Chinese): **/*[b]ək/** > [_Kan-
> on_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kan-on): **ふく**.

* * *

「服」was originally「」(that is, without the left hand side component).

> 「」was originally a picture of a _hand_ 「又」 _subduing_ a _kneeling person_
> 「卩」.
>
> # `[商](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shang_dynasty)  
> [甲](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oracle_bone_script)  
> [![enter image description
> here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/VCHze.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/VCHze.png)  
>
> [甲](http://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/yanbian/Reference/JiaguwenReference)3834  
>
> [合集753](http://www.guoxuedashi.com/jgwhj/?bhfl=1&bh=753&jgwfl=)``[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/FzCgu.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/FzCgu.png)  
> 㝬鐘  
> [集成260](http://www.guoxuedashi.com/yzjwjc/?bh=260&jgwfl=)``  
> [篆](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_seal_script)  
> [![enter image description
> here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/67PoU.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/67PoU.png)  
> [說文解字](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuowen_Jiezi)  
>  ``今  
> [楷](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_script)  
> [![enter image description
> here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/sv7Rp.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/sv7Rp.png)  
>  
>  `

Semantic「凡」was added later, bringing out the meaning of _to serve_.

# `商  
甲  
[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/WMVrC.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/WMVrC.png)  
[林](http://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/yanbian/Reference/JiaguwenReference)1.24.5  
[合集36924](http://www.guoxuedashi.com/jgwhj/?bhfl=1&bh=36924&jgwfl=)``西周  
金  
[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/jFSYt.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/jFSYt.png)  
作冊䰧卣  
[集成5432](http://www.guoxuedashi.com/yzjwjc/?bh=5432&jgwfl=)``西周  
金  
[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/hD0iB.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/hD0iB.png)  
毛公鼎  
[集成2841](http://www.guoxuedashi.com/yzjwjc/?bh=2841&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/hufY6.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/hufY6.png)  
[睡](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuihudi_Qin_bamboo_texts)・[為](http://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/yanbian/Reference/QinwenziReference)35  
``今  
楷  
[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/tO760.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/tO760.png)  
  
`

The third form above contains「舟」, and the fourth form contains「⺼・肉」; these
changes should be considered as graphical corruptions of「凡」.

> 「凡」originally depicted a _large tray_ used for carrying things or people,
> now written as「盤」or「槃」, which also contains the corrupted「凡」in the form
> of「舟」on the top left. The meaning _general, common_ of「凡」is a phonetic loan.
>
> # `商  
> 甲  
> [![enter image description
> here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/wlsnJ.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/wlsnJ.png)  
> [燕](http://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/yanbian/Reference/JiaguwenReference)147  
> [合集18875](http://www.guoxuedashi.com/jgwhj/?bhfl=1&bh=18875&jgwfl=)``秦  
> 簡  
> [![enter image description
> here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/LUdyY.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/LUdyY.png)  
>
> [睡・效](http://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/yanbian/Reference/QinwenziReference)30  
>  ``今  
> 楷  
> [![enter image description
> here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/6ZKYE.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/6ZKYE.png)  
>  
>  `

* * *

**References:**

  * 李學{{kr:勤}}《字源》
  * 季旭昇《說文新證》
  * [小學堂](http://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/)
  * [國學大師](http://www.guoxuedashi.com/)
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