The 說文解字 the ‘足’ section contains 85 Chinese characters and four 重文, and this thesis targets 85 Chinese characters except for 重文. Mainly, this research was carried out in three main sections: the literal view, the semantic view, and the ‘足’ Chinese character, which is used to date. First of all, from a literal perspective, I classified ‘足’ Chinese characters into the concept of 六書, before classifying them with the characteristics of 訓釋 and the characteristics of the self-interpretation. Next, I divided the Chinese characters into nouns and verbs in a semantic perspective. The Chinese characters used as nouns include human or animal feet as body parts, foot disorders, barefoot conditions or frozen feet, and further include footwear and walking track. In the case of Chinese characters used as verbs, most of the foot movements were included: sitting, walking, running, stepping, kicking, crossing, hesitating, falling, uncomfortable foot movements, and punishment on the feet. Lastly, in approaching modern Chinese characters based on modern Chinese characters, I looked through the general usage in modern Chinese characters and the type of Chinese characters currently used as simplified characters. As for the change of meaning, I compared the meaning of '說 文解字' with that of modern Chinese characters, and found that the more common Chinese characters were used, the more diverse the meaning was derived as dividing characters with derived meanings and with displaced meanings. The above study shows that the Chinese characters involved in the ‘足’ section not only include human feet and related movements but also animal feet and movements, indicating that the study of the ‘足’ Chinese characters is widely recognized from the static to the dynamic parts of the foot. Therefore, I think that the study of the ‘說文’ Chinese characters can expand the range of the perspectives of ancestors on feet and the cultural phenomena revealed through them.

『說文解字』 ‘足’部에는 85개의 한자와 4개의 重文이 수록되어 있다. 본고에서는 ‘足’部 한자 중 重文을 제외한 85자를 살펴보고자 하며, 문자학적 관점과 의미학적 관점, 그리고 현재까지 상용되는 ‘足부 한자 등 세 부분으로 나누어 연구를 진행하고자 한다. 문자학적 접근에서는 造字 방법에 따라 관련 한자를 육서의 개념으로 분류해보고, 한자 訓釋에서의 특징, 字義 해 석과정에서의 특징으로 나누어보며, 의미학적 접근에서는 ‘足’부 한자를 크게 명사와 동사로 쓰이는 경우로 나누어 분류해 본다. 현대한자에 대한 접근에 있어서는 현대한자에서의 통용 여부, 이체자로 분류된 자형과 간체자로 사용되고 있는 한자 및 의미의 변화에 대해 알아보고자 한다. 이러한 연구를 통해 ‘足’부 한자들의 자형과 의미의 특징들을 살펴보는 것을 주요 내용으로 한다.