Take the same tree, 木, and this time mark a stroke near the very top instead of the base — the branches' outermost tip, the opposite end from 本's root. Where 本 points to where a thing begins, 末 points to where it finishes, so together they became a classic pair: 本末 (běnmò), "root and tip," meaning the whole of a matter from start to end.
A piece of culture
Root and tip 末 shows up whenever something is winding down: 周末 (zhōumò) is the weekend, "week's end," and 世纪末 is the close of a century. The ancient idiom 舍本逐末 (shě běn zhú mò), "abandon the root to chase the tip," warns against mistaking minor details for what truly matters — proof that 本 and 末 have been paired in Chinese thought for over two thousand years.