𓀁

Glyph origin
This determinative was originally two separate signs, one with a seated man putting his hand to his mouth as a determinative for eating, and one where the seated man’s hand did not touch the mouth but was depicted palm-outward as a determinative for speech, intellect, and exclamations. Later the latter sign was subsumed by the former.

During the Heracleopolitan Period, confusion of this sign with the seated man   resulted in the use of a variant of   with a standing man putting his hand to his mouth.