informal variant of a Chinese character; popular form of a Chinese character
Refers to a non-standard or simplified character form commonly used in handwriting or informal contexts, as opposed to the orthodox form (正字).
As a popular form of 国, there is a variant with 玉 inside 囗.
Many informal character variants are used in old documents.
From 俗 (vulgar, popular) + 字 (character). The term is used in Chinese and Japanese philology to describe non-standard character forms that arose through common usage.