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Originally 𫠤, a pictogram (象形) depicting a person 人 with a headress similar to 屮 and then 丰 and 出 (but unrelated to these character). Later, the person was stylized as a shape similar to 夭 (a young man walking vigorously); 攴 was added next to the pictogram perhaps to convey the concept of authority, making it a phono-semantic compound (形聲/形声) and transforming it into 𢾍; the man under the headress then become stylized as 方 (or 万 in some fonts). See also 免, 冒, and 美.
As an alternative, according to 季旭昇 Ji Xusheng, it represents a man walking and travelling in the countryside, symbolized by a sprout 屮 on top. See also the original form of 每.
Shuowen Jiezi erroneously interprets it as an ideogrammic compound (會意/会意) : 出(“leave”) + 放(“release”) due to the later stylization.