虎

 Chinese New Year 2022 is year of tiger. Today we divert our path to learn tiger in Chinese: 虎.

Modern character of 虎 does not give us much hint why it means tiger. As usual its ancient scripts will help here:

evolution history of 虎

As we can see from above table how 虎 evolved from its vivid drawing, , with the details of special characteristics of a tiger:

a. big mouth with sharp teeth;

b. stripes on its body;

c. powerful claws;

d. long tail;

to a more abstract  in Bronze script era, and further simplified in Seal script  and finally fixed in Clerical script: .

虎

so 虎 means tiger. For example: 老虎.

With extended meanings, 虎 can be used to describe as dangerous as close to a tiger: 虎口.

And 虎 can also be used to describe a person as mighty and brave as a tiger. For example: 虎将. 

That is all for 虎. I wish everybody a Prosperous Chinese New Year of Tiger | 虎年大吉:

福虎迎春