TSUMUGU · TOCFL B1 (est.) · 字
虧
虧 ＝ 雐 ＋ 亏
ㄎㄨㄟ · kuī
verb/noun — to lose, run short; deficit; (luckily)
字源 FORM — what the parts do
雐聲hū — gives the sounda bird (隹) under tiger stripes (虍), worn down on the left
Fhū → kuī — the final reshapes; initial holds
亏義breath leaking away
亏 is breath escaping — the air going out of something. 雐 hū carries the sound, the bird-under-tiger left half worn thin in copying. Together: what leaks away, the shortfall. 虧損、吃虧.
故事 STORY — a scene to remember it by
一口氣慢慢漏出去（亏），剩下的就比原來少了——虧了。
The breath leaks slowly out (亏); what's left comes up short — a loss.
字源記憶法
意 · Meanings
(本義)气損— a loss of breath, a draining away
→虧損、虧本— deficit; to lose money常用
⇒吃虧— to come off worse, suffer a loss常用
⇒幸虧、多虧— luckily; thanks to常用
(本義) original meaning · → ⇒ each arrow = one more step of extension