支

• Branch / Offshoot: Botanical branches, subsidiary family lines (lineage), or divisions within an organization.
• Support / Prop: Physical pillars or limbs used for support; metaphorical sustaining or upholding of a position or state.
• Expenditure / Disbursement: The outflow of funds, such as paying salaries or spending from a treasury.

• Noun: Refers to the physical object (branch/prop) or an abstract entity (lineage/subsidiary).
• Verb: Transitive use for paying a sum or supporting a person/structure; intransitive use for sustaining oneself or holding out.

In Warring States and early Han texts, 支 frequently functions as the original form for 枝 (botanical branch), and the two may be interchangeable in these earlier strata.

Be alert to the conceptual shift from structural support (upholding) to financial support (paying). The administrative sense of "pay/expend" is typically dominant in governmental or ledger-style texts.