Learn one Chinese Character a day – 又

又 is a very commonly used Chinese character and its variations were  also used as radical to help creating many other Chinese characters.

Let us examine its evolution history first: ( image get from http://www.vividict.com )

Learn one Chinese Character a day – 又

Oracle script till its Clerical script  is the drawing of hand with 3 fingers. It has been learnt that Chinese character "手" is a drawing of a hand with 5 fingers. Chinese ancestors differentiated them to use to mean holding something. This original meaning has been replaced with "有" ( we will get to it in our following lessons ). The reason to choose drawing of 3 fingers of a hand might be related to a Chinese sayings "It is very firm to hold an escargot with only 3 fingers" (三个手指抓田螺- 十拿九稳), below is the image showing you the exact idea:

And below image is a typical dish made in my home town with river escargots. 

"又", modern writing of , lost its original meaning to "有", and now it only keeps its extended meanings as:

1. “Again” or "Repeat",

2. can be used as conjunction to clauses or sentences or to coordinate words in the same clause as And, sometimes as But or However,

3. it can be used as an emphatic character in a sentence to enforce the meaning of the phrase after it.

Now it is time to enjoy a Chinese calligraphy with 又 inside:

山重水复疑无路，柳暗花明又一村。