衣

Today we need to detour to a new Chinese character 衣 before we can continue our journey to 远 | 遠.
Looking at its modern form 衣, there is almost no clue for us to guess its meaning. Let us examine its ancient scripts, as usual, to see if there is any hints to get.

Evolution history of 衣

With its Oracle scriptand , Bronze script , and Seal script , if you knew the meaning of 衣, and were familiar with Chinese culture, it would be pretty clear to you that is the drawing of the object that 衣 represents, as shown in below picture:

衣服

Yes, 衣 is the drawing of an upper garment or clothing. for example 大衣.

衣 naturally contains the meaning of covering or wrapping, thus 衣 is also used to represent wrapping items in certain scenarios, for example 糖衣炮弹.

Looking back at 衣's evolution history, when 衣 came to Clerical script , it has transformed to become very similar with what we write today.

That is all for 衣, time to enjoy Chinese calligraphy with 衣 inside:

朱雀桥边野草花，乌衣巷口夕阳斜；
旧时王谢堂前燕，飞入寻常百姓家。