Learn one Chinese Character a day - 内

Today we will learn a new Chinese character 内, to better understand its meaning and how it was created, it is necessary for us to go through its evolution history first: (image get from http://www.vividict.com)

Learn one Chinese Character a day - 内

It is a bit hard for us to guess it meaning by looking at Oracle Scripts of 内, its Bronze Script, for example , is much easier for us to guess.  looks much like a house, while , which we have just learnt, represents enter, so overall meaning of  is "entering into a house". Obviously and confirmed by linguist, used to have same meaning as . Eventually these two characters departed to refer to different things. After entering the house, you are then inside the house, thus is used to mean inside. During the period of Seal Script , to simplify writing,was written together with the roof as . Now is very close to what we write today - 内.

So 内 means inside.

That is it. Now it is time to enjoy a Chinese calligraphy with 内 inside:

海内存知己，天涯若比邻。

Learn one Chinese Character a day - 入

If it were you, how would you create a Chinese character to mean enter? It might be much harder than your first thought. I guess you will be surprised that Chinese ancestors used such a simple Chinese character 入 to represent the meaning of enter.

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

Learn one Chinese Character a day - 入

Looking at the Oracle Script of 入 - and its Bronze Script , comparing to Oracle Script of 宀 which we learnt a few days ago - , original meaning of 入 should be roof of a house.
Before entering a house, we see its side view as . After entering the house, we are then covered by roof, and normally roof is more obvious than walls while we are inside a house.
Omitting walls of , we get, which is eventually simplified to current 入, and it means enter.

Now let us enjoy a Chinese calligraphy with 入 inside to end our lesson today:

渐入妙境

Learn one Chinese Character a day – 安

The character we will learn today is 安, from its composition, it is to show some ideas related to a lady/girl 女, sitting inside a house 宀.

As usual, let us check it evolution history first: (image get from http://www.vividict.com)

Learn one Chinese Character a day – 安

When a lady / girl sitting inside a house of her family, it brings out the feeling of safety, calm and peace.

Yes, 安 has the meaning of peace, quiet, calm, safety when it is used as noun or adj.

when 安 is used as verb, it then means to make something / somebody safe / calm, or to settle down.

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

安得广厦千万间，大庇天下寒士俱欢颜

Learn one Chinese Character a day - 家

Today we are going to learn a new character - 家, it is composed of two parts we have learnt, upper part is 宀 (house) and lower part 豕 (pig).

Before we reveal the answer, let us check its evolution history first (image get from http://www.vividict.com)

Learn one Chinese Character a day - 家

It is very obvious that Oracle Script showed the picture of a house having a pig inside.

In ancient China, pig was one of the most important asset of a family. People raised their pigs inside their house, where their family lives. Thus Chinese ancestors used to represent the meaning of home.

So 家 means home.
家 is also extended to mean a family, or a faction of people.
As 家 has the meaning of raising pigs at home, which was a skillful job in ancient time, 家 is thus used to mean a specialist or expert as well.

Now let us enjoy a Chinese calligraphy with 家 inside:

家和万事兴

Learn one Chinese Character a day - 宀

Today we check another commonly used Chinese Radial - 宀, After transformation, it is hard to know its meaning by looking at 宀. However it would be a very clear answer if we saw its Oracle Scripts.

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

Learn one Chinese Character a day - 宀

Does not its Oracle Script looks exactly the side view of a house, as shown below?

a typical house

Another Oracle Script even added a chimney on top of the house .

Eventually was simplified to 宀.

When you see any Chinese character with 宀, that character must be related to house, like 家, 室 and etc.

Now let us enjoy a Chinese calligraphy with a Chinese character which contains 宀.

池沼， 宫城

Learn one Chinese Character a day - 疒

Looking at our new Chinese character today - 疒, it would be very hard to guess its meaning without knowing its Oracle Script.

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

Learn one Chinese Character a day - 疒

Oracle Script of 疒 composed of two parts - left part is bed (床), right part is a person (人). To have a better idea, we rotate the drawing of 90 degrees anti-clockwise, we will get .

Now you might have already shout out is lying on bed. True. There are mostly two conditions we would like to lying on bed, one reason is we are tired, another is because of sickness.

As learnt in our last lesson that take a rest is already presented by 休, so was used to represent the meaning of lying on bed because of sickness.

Seal Script simplified part to an indicator , and eventually becomes 疒.

疒 is now only used as a Chinese Radical (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_(Chinese_characters)). When you see any Chinese character with 疒, they are all related to sickness.

 Since 疒 is now only used as Radical, in today's Calligraphy, we use a Chinese character with 疒 as a replacement:

古道西风瘦马

Learn one Chinese Character a day - 休

Today we are going to learn 休, look at the character, its left part is 人, and its right part is 木. What would be its meaning with a person besides a tree?

We will have a clear idea with below image:

Take a break under the tree

Yes, 休 means take a rest. And 休 is also extended to mean our good feelings while taking a break under the tree.

Let us examine its evolution history to confirm our guessing: (image get from http://www.vividict.com)

Learn one Chinese Character a day - 休

From Oracle Script  , which is composed of man and tree . Following the same logic, is all the way simplified to its current form - 休.

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

清音俗世流,纷争何时休