Learn one Chinese Character a day – 有

From the modern writing of Chinese character "有", there is no much clue here for its meaning. Let us check its evolution history first:

Learn one Chinese Character a day – 有

We can now see it clearly from its Bronze Script  that it is to grasp  () the meat (). Clerical Script transformed the part of the Seal Script to , which  is now commonly used to present (with the meaning of a hand or to grasp)

So "有" original meaning is to grasp a piece of meat, and it means also to own a piece of meat.

Eventually  "有" is used to mean Have, Hold, Contain, Own, or There is/are.

Let us end our lesson today with a Chinese calligraphy:

山不在高有仙则名，水不在深有龙则灵