最 - Dong Chinese dictionary

zuì

most

Original meaning:

gather

Phonosemantic compound. 宀 represents the meaning and 取 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "gather". The meaning later shifted to "accumulate", "many" and "most". Originally written as 㝡. Later extra strokes were added to the 宀 component.

Components

宀 Meaning component

mián

roof

Depicts gathering many things in one building. Originally written as 宀, later extra strokes were added.

宀 hints at the original meaning of 最, "gather", which is no longer the most common meaning of 最 in modern Mandarin.

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 宀 than it was in ancient scripts.

取 Sound component

qǔ

take

最 and 取 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in older Chinese.最 /*[ts]ˤot-s/
取 /*tsʰˤoʔ/, /*tsʰoʔ/, /*[ts]ʰoʔ-s/

Evolution