The earliest forms of 旅 show people gathered beneath a banner. The graph first referred to a military group or troops on the move; over time it also came to express travelling and a journey. Scholars differ on some details of the oldest drawings, so this simplified sketch shows only the widely recognised banner-and-people structure.
A piece of culture
A journey made together The old image in 旅 is not a lone traveller but a group moving under one banner. Modern travel is very different, yet the character still carries that sense of people setting out together. Pair it with 行, “to go,” and you get 旅行: to travel or take a journey.