Learn one Chinese Character a day – 伯

"伯" consists of two parts - left partrefers to a person as we taught before, while right part is "白", which we just learnt that its original meaning is thumb. So what would be the meaning of "伯" then? 

Thumb is the biggest among our fingers, Chinese ancestors used plus "白" to mean the oldest brother among the siblings, especially brothers. We can see from "伯" that "白" does mean Thumb originally.

"伯" was extended to mean "Older brothers of a father" or "Is used to address an elder man respectfully"

Let us still examine the evolution history of "伯": ( image get from http://www.vividict.com )

Learn one Chinese Character a day – 伯

Its Oracle Script  was composed of (Thumb) and (man). Another Oracle Script , Bronze Script and Seal Script followed the same pattern till our modern character - "伯". 

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

世有伯乐然后有千里马。

In the calligraphy above there is another character 乐 or traditional character 樂, which is related to 白 as well. Before moving to 樂, let us look another Chinese character 丝 first in our next lesson.