Friday 22 January 2016

Learn one Chinese Character a day - 少

Comparing to 小,  contains an extra 丿at the bottom. What is its meaning? Let us check its evolution history to get some clue. (screenshot taken from http://chinese-linguipedia.org)
Learn one Chinese Character a day - 少
As we can see that Oracle Script of 少 - is actually same as that of 小. They were same character when they were created! As time passed, three dots - , which becomes 小, is used more to mean Small, while four dots - , which becomes少, is used more to mean Smaller or Less. As 少 was created same as 小 originally, 少 can mean Small too.

Let us enjoy a Chinese calligraphy with 少 inside:
百川东到海,何时复西归。少壮不努力,老大徒伤悲。
As and are used to present abstract meaning like small, less and etc, how would Chinese ancestors create another character to mean sand then?




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