winding, as if

宛 is composed of 宀 (roof) and 夗 (curl up at night). 宀 is a pictograph of a roof, while 夗 conveys a person curling up to sleep at night, originally meaning bent or curved. As 夗 later developed other meanings, the radical 宀 (house) was added to create 宛 specifically to preserve the original sense of curved or winding. It later extended to mean “as if”, “seemingly”, or “just like”.