pot, cauldron

鬲 depicts a cooking utensil which is divided in two parts, the upper part looks like a three-legged ancient Chinese cooking vessel called Ting(鼎), which is used for boiling water; the lower part is a caldron with cover and porous bottom, which allows the steam go through in order to cook the food. Since the food is not cooked by the boiling water directly, 鬲 has the meaning of separation or partition, but such meaning has been replace by 隔.