Hello everyone!
While looking up a kanji on Jisho by using radials, I realized that 夂 and 攵 are actually different (hey, better late than never!) I kinda started messing around to see the differences between the two of tem through the kanji containing them.
I noticed that when I search with 夂, I get results only containing that radical (nothing strange so far), but if I searched with 攵, I get results containing both radicals. For example, 冬 is given as a result.
Other than being visually similar, they are otherwise different: different number of strokes, different pronunciation, different meaning…
I looked up in my 現代漢語例解辞典, and to my surprise, 攵 is listed as an alternative writing of the 攴(とまた) radical.
I am a bit confused by all that information, but it pretty much boils down to 2 questions:
1. Is there a connection between the 夂 and 攵 radicals that would explain why I get results for both when using 攵? Or is it just a mistake by Jisho (I doubt it, but hey)?
2. Is there a reason for the 攴 or 攵 writing? Is it just for ease of writing that one evolved into the other? Why is the bottom part of 攴 closer to 夂 rather than 攵?
I hope this all make sense. Thank you in advance.