The story of 寸

inch

寸 depict a hand with a stroke pointing at its ChuenKou(寸口). In the theory of Chinese Medical science, ChuenKou is the point of pulse on the wrist which the Chinese physician press on for diagnosis, such point of pulse situates one inch under the palm. 寸 has the meaning of 'speculation', since Chinese physician can know the state of illness by pressing on ChuenKou, but such meaning has been replaced by 忖, now 寸 solely means 'inch'. On the other hand, same as 又, when 寸 is used as a component in another HanZi, it means 'hand' , for example, 尃.