留

Core sense is persistence or retention—the state of remaining when motion or departure would otherwise occur (a "lingering" stop rather than a sudden cessation).

The semantic range operates in three primary modes:

1. Intransitive: To stay, dwell, or abide.

2. Transitive/Causative: To keep, detain, or prevent another from departing (ranging from hospitable detention of a guest to coercive holding of a prisoner).

3. Resultative/Residual: Leaving something behind; the state of an object remaining in place after the subject departs (e.g., leaving a name, legacy, or physical item).

• Verb: Used as a primary predicate for staying or detaining.
• Resultative Complement: Indicates that an action resulted in something being left behind or remaining in a specific state.
• Abstract Extension: In later contexts, may shift toward "preserving" or "maintaining" a condition or state of affairs.

• vs. 止 (zhǐ) / 停 (tíng): While these focus on the act of stopping or the cessation of motion, 留 focuses on the state of remaining after the stop has occurred.
• vs. 存 (cún): Both involve preservation, but 存 typically refers to ontological existence (surviving/existing), whereas 留 refers to spatial or temporal retention (being kept/left).

Variants U+7544 and U+7571 are paleographic shifts in the brushing of components; they do not signal a change in meaning.