Learn one Chinese Character a day - 伊

Our character today is formed by adding 亻(a person) to 尹, which is 伊. 

As we have known, 尹 is the drawing of "a hand holding scepter". Thus adding 亻 to 尹 is to emphasize the person whose hand holding the scepter. This is the original meaning of 伊.

Comparing to what we just learnt 君 , which is to add 口 to 尹, 君 is more to emphasize the representation of giving order or commanding.

As officers or rulers in ancient China were usually elected because of their reputation and high moral standard, people respect them and sometimes love them, like the famous tribal Emperor 尧, 舜 and 禹.

For 君 has been used to represent people with high reputation and moral standard, 伊 is then specifically used to mean people we loved, and eventually only to mean a lovely lady. for example 所谓伊人，在水一方。

伊

We can check its evolution history to understand this character better (image taken from http://vividict.com):

Evolution history of 伊

We now clearly see that our modern 伊 is exactly the same as that of Oracle script: .

That is all for today, it is time to enjoy a Chinese calligraphy with 伊 inside:

蒹葭苍苍，白露为霜。所谓伊人，在水一方。
溯洄从之，道阻且长。溯游从之，宛在水中央。