0079 責

責

This character has somewhat different meanings in Chinese and Japanese. In the former it means ‘one’s duty, responsibility,’ but in the latter it means ‘to blame, censure, or condemn,’ as well as ‘responsibility.’ And in either case, it’s hard to connect the elements of the character with the meaning. It’s pronounced SEKI and semeru in Japanese, zé in Chinese.

The lower part,

貝,

means ‘sea shell, cowry, (and in Chinese only) money.’ The meaning of the upper part, apparently a combination of

亠  and  土,

is not very clear. Japanese doesn’t use it on its own and in Chinese it seems to mean ‘to stab,’ but it takes a different form in that case:

朿.

Very confusing.

So let’s just assume that money is the root of all evil. Or cowries are the root of all evil, as in the old days when, in some societies, cowries could be used as cash. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_money

And when money is combined with the very confusing device on top of the character, there will be something heavy coming along, either some sort of responsibility or blame for using such an obscure mark.