祇

1. Spirits of the earth; frequently encountered in compounds such as 社祇 (deities of soil and community) in contexts involving state religion or sacrificial rites. 2. Only, merely, or but.

When functioning as a loan for 只, it serves as a restrictive or limiting particle.

Used as a phonetic loan for 只 (U+53EA). Fanqie reading: 巨支; Tang-period reading: *jiɛ̌ ghiɛ.

The use of the 示 radical associates the glyph with ritual and cosmological meanings.

Distinction is primarily determined by register: prioritize the "earth spirit" sense in passages concerning sacrifice (祭), earth (土), or ancestral worship (祀). If the glyph appears as a grammatical pivot restricting the scope of a subject, treat it as a loan for 只.