Thursday 25 May 2017

Learn one Chinese Character a day - 习 | 習

At the end of our previous character 羽, we have asked you to guess the meaning of the Oracle Script - . Have you gotten any clues?

Let us analyse it together. The modern form of  is 习 | 習. Its Simplified version - 习 is half of 羽, while the Traditional version 習 provides more information - 羽 and 白. Then maybe 習 represents white wings? However it does not sound like a useful combination though.

We shall see if we can get any help from its evolution history, as shown below: (image taken from http://vividict.com)
evolution history of 习 | 習
Looking at its Oracle Script -  again, the upper part is surely wings without doubt. What is the lower part? Recall the Oracle script of 日 -, it is the Sun actually. So  is flying Sun?

And as we have learnt during our study of 东, we know that Chinese ancestors believed that Sun is carried by a Sun Crow, as stated at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-legged_crow#Sun_crow_in_Chinese_mythology. Then it makes sense now -  does mean the flying Sun.
picture of 金乌 - the Sun

From this presentation of flying Sun, we can extend it to the major meanings of 习 | 習: Keep doing something consistently as a routine, like the Sun rises everyday and moves from east to west.

Get back to its evolution history, from its Oracle script  till current 习 | 習, its lower part slowly changed from 日 to 白. Recall what we have learnt with 百, 白 in 百 actually means "keep talking". So 羽 plus 白 can represent the meaning as a bird keep flapping it wings to fly, thus 習 do be able to mean keep doing something.

That is all for 习 | 習, now let us enjoy a Chinese calligraphy with 习 | 習 inside:
习静如山


Sunday 7 May 2017

Learn one Chinese Character a day - 羽

We have learnt enough characters related to 门 | 門, perhaps it is time to move on to characters related to 户. Before that we need to equip us with a few other Chinese characters.

Today we will study 羽. Though it is still quite close to its Oracle Script version -or, could you guess its meaning?

It looks a bit hard. If you saw below picture, you will then appreciate its similarity:

Yes,  is the drawing of opening wings of a bird before it starts to fly.

Before examining its multiple meanings extended from its original representation, let us check its evolution history first: (image taken from http://chinese-linguipedia.org)

Evolution history of 羽
From the original meaning of 羽, it is quite understandable that 羽 has following meanings:

羽 is used to mean wings (of a bird or an insect), for example: 羽翼

and 羽 is quite naturally used to mean birds' hair. for example: 羽毛

Like the hair of a bird which attaches to the body, when we say somebody is a 党羽, he is a member of a party but in subordinate status.

That is all we have for 羽, time to enjoy a Chinese calligraphy with 羽 inside:

霄羽
And the Oracle Script of our next character to learn is, can you try to reason its meaning by yourself?