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Again, I was seeing the kanji for the word slow, 遅 and for remembering it I
was trying to decompose it. This part looks like a kanji but I can't find
anywhere its meaning if it's really a kanji. Is it just a piece of kanji with
no meaning or is it a kanji? If so, what does it mean?

[![U+21C5D](https://i.stack.imgur.com/3lhXH.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/3lhXH.png)
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kanji etymology
is the symbol  (U+21C5D) a kanji?
The picture you are showing is a Han character, which _can be_ considered a 漢字
in some aspects, **but it does not have a reading in Japanese.**

**However** , **the kanji 遅** , that is **_technically_** made up from it, is
actually made up of **three** parts in Japanese.

羊, which can also be a kanji meaning "sheep"

尸, which is just a radical and

⻌ , another radical meaning "road", "walk", or "to advance".

In Japanese, radicals are essentially pieces that help make up kanji.

For your pleasure, [here's a whole list of
radicals](https://kanjialive.com/214-traditional-kanji-radicals/) and their
meanings.
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### The specifics of ![遅](https://glyphwiki.org/glyph/u9045.50px.png)

Per [the Wiktionary entry](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E9%81%85) for
![遅](https://glyphwiki.org/glyph/u9045.50px.png), this kanji is the
_shinjitai_ or Japanese simplified form of classical
![遲](https://glyphwiki.org/glyph/u9072.50px.png), also listed under the
**Variants** heading at the bottom of the [Unihan Database entry
page](http://www.unicode.org/cgi-bin/GetUnihanData.pl?codepoint=9045). The
right-hand portion would thus be
![犀](https://glyphwiki.org/glyph/u7280.50px.png)
(![牛](https://glyphwiki.org/glyph/u725b.50px.png) "ox" under
![尾](https://glyphwiki.org/glyph/u5c3e.50px.png) "tail" = "rhinoceros", but
probably only used phonetically in
![遲](https://glyphwiki.org/glyph/u9072.50px.png)), rather than
![](https://glyphwiki.org/glyph/u21c5d.50px.png)
(![羊](https://glyphwiki.org/glyph/u7f8a.50px.png) "sheep" under
![尸](https://glyphwiki.org/glyph/u5c38.50px.png) "person sitting or lying, in
representation of the dead" = which apparently doesn't have an independent
meaning of its own).

### General considerations when decomposing characters

Before trying to suss out the individual parts of a kanji character for their
meaning, it pays to first find out if the kanji you're looking at is a
traditional form or a _shinjitai_ character. If it's a _shinjitai_ kanji, you
want to find the _kyūjitai_ or traditional form first, and then figure out the
meaning from there.

That said, kanji components were often assembled for phonetic reasons rather
than semantics, so looking into meanings of the components won't always
produce useful information (for instance, rhinos are actually quite fast when
they move, and sheep posing as dead people doesn't have a whole lot to do with
slowness either). Your best bet is to get a good kanji etymology dictionary.
In lieu of that (which can be hard to find, and somewhat expensive), the
community of Chinese editors at [Wiktionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/) has
been doing a decent job of describing the origins of the many Chinese
characters, so have a go at checking there. (Full disclosure: I've also been
an editor over there, but primarily for the Japanese entries.)

Happy hunting!
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The 遅 character originated from its _kyujitai_ form: 遲.

It consists of these components:

1) Semantic component 辵 (simplified as 辶, reading: shinnyō) means "walk",
"move", "motion".

2) Phonetic component 犀 (reading: sei) means "rhinoceros", consists of
phonetic component 尾 (tail) & semantic component 牛 (ox).

According to old character variations noted in "異體字字典", the character in
_shinjitai_ form of 遅 is a written **variant** of 犀 (together with other 22
characters made in middle Chinese era, the complete list available on
[character
variants](http://dict2.variants.moe.edu.tw/variants/rbt/word_attribute.rbt?quote_code=QTAyNTAxLTAxOA)).
In Japanese this is called 異体字 (itaiji, lit. different form characters) &
sometimes considered as replacement characters when simplifying a complex
kanji (similar way: 證 => 証). As a traditional variant, it actually uses **same
sound & meaning** as 犀 (note that 犀 available in jinmeiyō kanji but not in
jōyō kanji).

Here is a proof of 犀 character variants, taken from "中華字海" at the same
reference source ( marked in red box):

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/iGKKF.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/iGKKF.png)

PS: In mainland China the simplification form of same character becomes 迟,
derived from 尺 which denotes "Chinese foot measurement unit" (so that implies
"walking one foot per second" has associated meaning with 'slow').
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