What is the meaning of the radical 单耳旁？

[Hero Doug]

I don't know how to type the radical; but it's to the right of 去 in the character 却。

I'm just wondering if anyone can clear up the meaning. The book I'm looking in says that "the greater part of characters with the 单耳旁 radical are simplified".

I thought it might have been a marker to denote which characters were simplified from the traditional character set. A native speaker I asked said that that isn't the case at all.

So, what does this radical signify? Anyone know?

[one_night_in_BJ]

According to this, 卩 (jié) means "seal."

[AdamD]

According to 'Learning Chinese Characters' it's a seal, specifically the type of seal one would use to authenticate a document.

[Hero Doug]

Thanks for the input guys.

this site and this site both confirm seal; but I thought that it may have another meaning.

The book I'm studying from often lists radicals as "mostly referring" to a specific meaning.

So I'm just wondering what this simplified meaning is all about.

Edited December 2, 2009 at 03:13 PM by Hero Doug

[Hofmann]

This and this says that it means "kneel."

[Ole]

Wenlin says:

==== 卩 [jié] (radical 26, component: 'seal'; 单耳朵 dān ěrduo)

Picture of a person kneeling. A symbol of authority. Formerly thought to represent a sceptre or seal (for signing documents); only from archeological evidence uncovered in the 20th century is it clear that 卩 depicted a person kneeling.

[Hero Doug]

Kneeling makes sense as you would kneel to an authoritative figure, just as an authoritative figure would place a seal on an official document.

Thanks for the added info.