Monday 11 February 2019

Learn one Chinese Character a day - 君

Looking at our new character today 君, it is composed of 尹 and 口. What could be the meaning of 君 then? 

君 is the person who holding the power and giving orders. For example 一国之君, which means the ruler of a kingdom.

As usual we would like to examine its ancient scripts to see if we can get better understanding of this character. (image taken from: http://vividict.com)
Evolution history of 君
 Now we can see from its Oracle script  that it is created with exactly the same components as what we have today: 尹 and 口


In China, especially during the Era of Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Sovereigns_and_Five_Emperors), only people with great moral and kind heart could be elected as the ruler of a kingdom. 君 is so also extended to mean people with great heart. For example 君子.

That is all for 君, let us enjoy a Chinese calligraphy with 君 inside:
莫愁前路无知己,天下谁人不识君

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