Learn one chinese character a day - 龟 | 龜

After learnt 鱼, 鸟, 犬, today we move on to a new character for another animal, which is 龟. Its Traditional Chinese character is 龜. Let me zoom it out so that you can see it clearly: 龜.

From 龟 or 龜 you might not have any idea what kind of animal it is. Once you see its Oracle script , or its Bronze script , you immediately know what it is. They are just drawings of the animal below:

乌龟

Yes 龟 means turtle or tortoise.

Its evolution history demonstrates how it has evolved into current form - 龟: (image taken from http://www.vividict.com)

Evolution history of 龟 | 龜

龟 | 龜 is treated as a very special species in China. It symbols long live and prosperity. Ancient Chinese wizards engraved words onto shells of 龟, then burned them in fire to reveal the will of gods based on the pattern of the cracks. That is why we have luckily recovered what characters ancient Chinese uses - the Oracle scripts.

甲骨文

Below is a Chinese calligraphy with 龟 inside:

龟寿鹤年

Learn one Chinese Character a day - 戾

we have known the meaning of drawing 犬 under 穴 (a cave) - 突. What does it mean by drawing 犬 under 户 (door), which is our character today: 戾? 

Recall how 突 is created and its meaning, we can guess now what 戾 describes: the dog dashing out of a house or barking inside a house (to scare the strangers away to protect the house).

the difference is that 突 is describing the scene that dogs dashing out of cave (to catch their pray). while 戾 describes the scene that a dog guarding the house of its owner.

From this understanding, 戾 has an obvious meaning of dashing or charging to reach (somewhere).

And since the dog rushing out of house to bark fiercely towards the strangers,  戾 thus has the meaning of fierce or fiercely, depending whether it is used as adj or adv. Sometimes the dog attacks the strangers without reason, 戾 thus contains the meaning of offence. 

Dog barking at the door

and let us examine its evolution history to see if there is any more hints we can get. (image taken from: http://www.vividict.com)

evolution history of 戾

We can see that its Bronze script has two components: 立 () and 犬 (). it is to show the idea of a dog attacking or barking at the people who just stand there. That is probably the reason why 戾 pronounces exactly the same as 立.

Another bronze script contains the same component as its modern form 戾: 户 () and 犬 (). And its Seal Script  followed and  was abandoned.

The reason Chinese ancestors considered  a better representation of 戾 is probably that: a dog guarding the house shows the idea of 戾 better than a dog attacking / barking at a standing person.

And another reason could be that: drawing a person together with a dog () is very similar to 伏, thus was eventually abandoned and 戾 continued with .

That is all for 戾 and let us enjoy a Chinese calligraphy with 戾 inside now:

鸢飞戾天，鱼跃于渊。

Learn one Chinese Character a day - 位

位 is quite obviously composed of 亻(which is 人) and 立. 

we know that 立  is to describe a person standing on earth, adding a people to 立 is to emphasize the human-being part. where a people stands is the position of the person. Same as English word position, 位 has all the geographic, social or career meaning that position can be used to represent. for example: 位置 and 职位.

职位

that is all for 位, let us take some time to  appreciate its ancient scripts as shown below (image taken from: http://vividict.com/)

Evolution history of 位

We can see that its Oracle script  is same as 立, as 立 has already the meaning of "where a person stands". Since 立 is eventually used to represent the meaning of stands. Thus Chinese ancestors added 亻to 立 to create 位 to represent the meaning of position.

Since 位 has the emphasis on person, it is also used as classifier for people, for example 一位同事.

and as usual, a Chinese calligraphy with 位 inside for us to enjoy:

位卑未敢忘忧国

Learn one Chinese Character a day - 立

before we continue with our next character related to 犬, today we study another brand new character first - 立. Simple character like 立 is usually harder to guess its meaning as there will be much less clues available.

Let us see whether its ancient scripts can help us or not. (image taken from: http://vividict.com)

Evolution history of 立

it's Oracle script is composed of two parts, upper part is the Oracle script of 大 (details can be reviewed at https://xiongzou.blogspot.sg/2016/01/learn-one-chinese-character-day_10.html), which originally means adult; and its lower part is a horizontal line .

so 立 was created with the original context of "a big adult standing on the ground", as shown below, from which many different meanings have been developed:

立

naturally 立 means standing up, for example 站立.

stand up normally means for person, what if we make something to stand up straight? thus 立 has been used to mean "setup something upward", for example 竖立.

and Chinese ancestors did not stop here. recall that 大 has the meaning of big, 立 thus contains the meaning of "something big and obvious has been put up which is known to many people". in English, it is very close to establish or found, for example 立功, and 立国.

remember what we have learnt 天? 天 is actually a drawing of sky (一) above people (大) while 立 is a drawing of people (大) standing on earth (一).  I think it is then quite naturally in Chinese to describe heroes with some idiom like: 顶天立地.

As time passes, we can see that its clerical script  transformed a lot to lose the shape of 大 and eventually is finalized as 立.

before ending our lesson today, let us enjoy a Chinese calligraphy with 立 inside:

泉眼无声惜细流，树阴照水爱晴柔；
小荷才露尖尖角，早有蜻蜓立上头。

With the understanding of 立, maybe we can know what 位 means already?

Learn one Chinese Character a day - 伏

Same as 突, our character today is also created with 犬: 伏, which is composed of 亻( which is 人) and 犬. What does it mean here?

There could be some different possible combinations as listed below:
a. Hunter and a hunting dog;

b. Hunter (does hunting with) a hunting dog.

c. Hunter acts like a hunting dog;

We can easily strike out option a, as that does not contain any useful context that Chinese ancestors would waste a character for.

For options b and c, it is hard for us to jump to conclusion. Its ancient scripts might help us to understand its meanings: (image taken from http://vividict.com)

Evolution history of 伏

we can see that from its Bronze Script and Seal Script till the current modern form 伏, the concept and components has not been changed at all!

From option b above, it is to describe the scene that hunters, together with their dogs, ambush and besiege the prey. The YouTube video below demonstrates the concept of ambush precisely, and it vividly explains what 伏 means. 伏 has the meaning of ambush.

From the video above, we can tell that 伏 has also the meaning of lower down (one's body) or lie on one's stomach. For example: 伏案疾书.

And from above video we can also see that lions pulled the buffalo down to the ground by force. 伏 thus contains the meaning of being subject to. for example 伏法. Actually we can conclude the same meaning as "being subject to" when we see somebody lower down his body before another authority.

伏

if 伏 is used as verb, then it can be used to mean "making somebody / something to be subjected to (by force)", for example 降龙伏虎.

降龙伏虎

From option c, it should be describing the scene that Hunter lower down his body to hide himself carefully like a hunting dog in order not to alert the prey. We get the same meaning of lower down (one's body) as that from option b.

now it is time to enjoy a Chinese calligraphy with 伏 inside:

老骥伏枥，志在千里

Learn one Chinese Character a day - 突

While we were studying 犬, we mentioned that there are many Chinese characters which are created with it. character 突 is one of the examples.

Looking at 突 carefully, it is composed of upper part - 穴 and lower part 犬. What does it mean here?
Logically two possible options:
a) a hunting dog hiding inside a cave;
b) a hunting dog rush out of a cave.

option a) sounds a bit un-reasonable, if the dog hides inside the cave, we should not be able to see it. Then 犬 would not be part of the character 突.

option b) is a much more natural description of the hunting process: suddenly the hunting dog(s) rush out of the cave where they hide to catch the prey.

Before we continue, it will be also helpful to know the ancient scripts of 突:  (image taken from: http://vividict.com)

ancient scripts of 突

It is amazing that the concept and components of 突 has not been changed starting from its Oracle script: , and its Bronze script and Seal script followed the same composition and is eventually simplified to current form - 突.

Below is the picture demonstrate the original meaning of 突:

突

From the picture of 突, we can perceive the vivid meaning of surprise and sudden. for example 突然.

And the dog will become obvious / visible after it jumps out of the cave. so 突 also has the meaning of prominent. for example: 突出.

That is all for 突, now it is time to enjoy a Chinese calligraphy with 突 inside:

趵突泉

Below is the youtube video which introduces the famous 趵突泉 in Chinese.

Learn one Chinese Character a day - 吠

Same as what we have learnt for 鸣, 吠 is created with the same context - 口 plus 犬. It is to mean the bark of a dog. for example: 狗吠声.

We can see how it is evolved from its Oracle Script  , which is (犬) + (口), to its modern form - 吠.

evolution history of 吠

And enjoy a Chinese calligraphy with 吠 inside:

狗吠深巷中，鸡鸣桑树颠。