bamboo container

筲 is composed of 竹 (bamboo) and 肖 (resemble). 肖 conveys the idea of the moon’s light gradually diminishing, implying removal or reduction. 筲 originally refers to a bamboo container used for washing rice, which has holes that allow unwanted dirty water to be removed while retaining the rice grains. Later, 筲 came to broadly denote bamboo containers.