Wei Collection, Middle Volume Radical: Silk (mì) Hong Kangxi Stroke Count: 11 Page 919, Entry 32 Broad Rhymes (Guangyun): Pronounced hong. Collected Rhymes (Jiyun): Pronounced hong. The sound is the same as hong. Explanation of Graphs (Shuowen): The character hong is sometimes written in the variant form hong when used as hong. Broad Rhymes (Guangyun): Refers to the net of a cap. History of the Former Han (Qianhan), Biography of Yang Xiong: Gazing from the middle of the net. Commentary: Shigu states: Hong is the ancient form of the character hong. Also, refined broad lexicon (Boya): Hong means to tie. Note: In Collected Rhymes (Jiyun) it is written as hong. Hong was a character used during the Song Dynasty to avoid the taboo name of the imperial temple; therefore, hong was often written as hong. The character hong is composed of the silk radical and the hong element.