What's the connection between a spoon (匕) and the old age (⺹)? (Kanji: 老)


I was studying some radicals and I found this: ⺹ (old, old-age) and this: 匕.
But why this: 老 (old + spoon) means "old man, old age, grow old"?? Do
Japaneses think a spoon can make you older in a shorter time? Should I stop
using spoons and start to use only chopsticks?

Please help me clearifying all these doubts floating in my mind xD Thanks in
advance!!




It appears that the 匕 component that we see in 老 did not start out as the same
character as 匕 "spoon", but instead as a stylization of long hair and a cane.
This is more apparent if you compare the progression of forms from ancient
Shang inscriptions through to the modern shapes: see the [匕 glyph origin at
Wiktionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%8C%95#Glyph_origin), the [老
glyph origin](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E8%80%81#Glyph_origin), and by
way of comparison, the [比 glyph
origin](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E6%AF%94#Glyph_origin), where the 匕
component again developed from a non-"spoon" origin.

When exploring the origins of Chinese characters, it's important to recognize
that the modern forms are not necessarily indicative of the original forms.
Things change over time, and there's a general trend towards simplification
and standardization.

If you're really interested in the historical development of Chinese
characters, look into getting a good character dictionary. I've heard good
things about the [大漢和辞典 ( _Dai Kan-Wa Jiten_
)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dai_Kan-Wa_Jiten), a serious and large
monolingual Japanese resource. For English readers looking for a starter
character etymology dictionary, I found Kenneth Henshall's [_A Guide to
Remembering Japanese
Characters_](https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/0804820384) to be
pretty good. Avoid anything by Heisig, however: he provides fanciful
descriptions of each kanji that might be helpful for memorizing, but that have
nothing to do with historical development.

