do, change, make, benefit, welfare, be of use, reach to, try, practice, cost, serve as, good, advantage, as a result of
為 centers on purposeful action and its outcomes: doing, making, or changing something for a benefit or advantage. The idea extends naturally to serving a role, trying, practicing, and the resulting welfare or cost.
為 is traditionally explained as a hand guiding an elephant, suggesting the idea of doing or making something happen. The modern form is simplified, and the exact historical development is uncertain.
The top part looks like a hand reaching down, and the bottom 灬 suggests fire or action. Picture a hand actively doing something over a fire, making a change that brings benefit.
For イ, imagine an eagle (イーグル) doing a purposeful dive: eagle -> イ, and the eagle's action brings an advantage.
good; advantage; benefit; welfare
act; deed; conduct
money order; draft
sexual act; sexual intercourse
artificiality; pretence; contrived act
human work; human agency; art; artificiality
to do; to commit; to carry out; to bring about
act; deed; one's doing
idleness; inactivity
statesman; administrator; politician; policymaker
foreign exchange
perpetual change caused by karma; vicissitudes of life; that which is made
(former) postal note (abolished in 1951); postal order; postal money order
Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act
business; occupation
self-interested show of kindness; acting selfishly under the guise of kindness
hence; for that reason
indecent act (esp. molestation or indecent exposure)
cheating at pachinko (through illegal tampering with the machines, etc.); scamming a pachinko parlor
espionage