Learn one Chinese Character a day - 止

While we were learning character 辵, we have mentioned that Oracle Scriptand Bronze Scriptis a drawing of foot, to be more specific, it refers to left foot of a person. To understand why, we need to check its revolution history first (Screenshot taken from http://chinese-linguipedia.org):

Learn one Chinese Character a day - 止

Oracle Script of 止-might looks very abstract to know what it refers to. We need the help of Oracle Script of another Chinese character 疋 - , which is a drawing of foot with leg. Now it is very clear that   is the drawing of a foot with its thumb at right hand side. So it does mean a left foot.

From Oracle Script  to Bronze Script , it transformed along the way till our current 止.

So 止 original meant Left Foot or just Foot.

Drawing of a foot can also mean that a person does not move, but standing still. 止 was then borrowed to mean Stop, Stand Still as verb, or Stopped at as adv.

For 止 was borrowed and did not mean foot any longer, Chinese ancestors created a new one to represent Foot, which we will learn soon.

止-is a very commonly used Radical in creation of thousands of other Chinese characters. Please do remember it. It can help us to understand other Chinese characters.

Before ending our lesson today, please enjoy a Chinese calligraphy with 止 inside:

知足又知止，从此苦不吃。