surname, me

余 is composed of 亼 (gather) and a variant of 屮 (grass). 亼 signifies gathering or collecting, while 屮 is a pictograph of a small sprout or grass; thus, 余 conveys the concept of pulling up weeds. Since weeds are unwanted, 余 originally meant surplus or remainder. This original meaning was later taken over by the character 餘, and today 余 is mostly used as a surname or borrowed as a first-person pronoun.