Thursday 9 February 2017

Learn one Chinese Character a day - 财 | 財

Similar to 材, our character today 财 is composed of 贝 and 才. Looking at its evolution history below (image taken from http://vividict.com/)
Learn one Chinese Character a day - 财 | 財

We can see that 财 started from Seal Script period as . So meaning of  and  here should be its extended meaning instead of their original one.

As we have learnt, 贝 refers to currency or precious items,  while 才 contains the extended meaning of capable of doing something. Combined meaning of 财, with its Traditional version 財, should be assets (including money) that is useful, valuable or capable of generating more wealth. To have a character to mean money only, Chinese ancestors did create another character 钱. 钱 and 财 can be used together as a phrase - 钱财.
财产

That is all for today. Now let us enjoy a Chinese calligraphy with 财 inside:
招财进宝

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