仌

The character today 仌 is a Chinese Radical, which is essential to known before moving on to understand other Chinese characters like 冰, 冬 and etc.

From the shape of 仌, it looks like a drawing of mountain ridge, however we already knew that in Chinese - 山 (https://xiongzou.blogspot.com/2012/01/learn-one-chinese-character-day_15.html), was drawn as  as its Oracle Script. With the understanding of 冰 and 冬, 仌 is actually a drawing of ice, to be more accurate, probably ice flood of Yellow River:

ice flood of Yellow River

仌 is simplified as 冫in modern Regular Scripts, which is used to add the meaning of cold or icy in the Combined Ideogram Chinese characters, like 冰 and 冬 mentioned above. 冬 has an old form of writing as  in case you are wondering.

That is all for 仌, let us enjoy a Chinese calligraphy with 仌 inside:

冰庵

 

税 | 稅

With our understanding of 禾 and 兑, today we are examine the meaning of their combination: 税, whose Traditional Chinese character is 稅, comparing the Traditional Chinese character of 兑 as 兌.

As we know, 兑 contains the original meaning of collecting (something) from the clan then dividing or allocating it among people by the chief of the clan.

China used to be an Agricultural country for tens of centuries, 禾 is the most important living supplies and symbol of wealth of Chinese people. Adding 兑 to 禾, it is to represent the meaning of government of  Chinese dynasty collecting 禾 as Tax from Chinese citizens, which will be used by the government for infrastructure, military, welfare and other expenses.

So 税 | 稅 is to mean Tax. for example 税收.

And Farmers in China also used to borrow farmland / seeds from their landlords in Spring and payback their landlords with certain portion of their harvests in Autumn as interests promised.

税 | 稅 can also be used to mean Interests. 税息.

As usual, to understand the character 税 | 稅 better, let us examine its evolution history:

Evolution history of 税

We can tell that there is no major differences in writing 税 from Bronze script till current modern Regular scripts.

Time to enjoy Chinese calligraphy with 税 inside:

荆树有花兄弟乐；书田无税子孙耕。

兔

This year is Rabbit year of Chinese New Year, which in Chinese character is 兔. 

a typical image used for Chinese Rabbit Year

Let us study this Pictogram character to understand how it was created and evolved into current way of writing:

evolution history of 兔

From it Oracle script , we can tell that as a Pictogram,  is a simpler drawing of , with emphasizing a few unique features of a rabbit - long ears, harelip and short tail.

The short tail was slowly simplified into a  in our Regular script - 兔.

兔 means Rabbit, Bunny, Hare or any Rabbit-alike creatures. for example 小白兔.

That is all for 兔, here I wish everyone a Healthy and Prosperous Chinese New Year of Rabbit in 2023!

兔年大吉

 

利

With our understanding of the the meaning of 禾, there are a few low-handing fruits in the Chinese characters tree for us to pick up. Besides 秋 we just learnt, 利 is another one.

利 is obviously composed of two parts: 禾 and 刂. And we already know that 刂 is indeed a 刀 when it is used as a Chinese Radical. So the most reasonable scene that 利 represents is probably following picture:

Harvesting

What is the underlying meaning that Chinese ancestors tried to represent here? The food or wealth that is being collected.

And as usual, examining the evolution history of 利 always helps:

Evolution history of 利

From its Oracle script, and its Bronze script:, there were two extra dots in the script: , which is believed to mean grains.

As skipping drawing of the  would not undermine the representation of 利 itself, we can see that they were eliminated starting from Seal script:  and result in our modern form 利.

so 利 has the meaning of benefits, wealth, goodness that comes together with 禾. for example: 利益. And it can be used as verb to mean benefit as well. for example 利己.

And farmers grow 禾 from small grain seeds in Spring and later harvest abundantly in Autumn. 利 thus contains the meaning of collecting of extra / multiplied gains from labor or time. for example 利息.

Also not forgetting the 刀 part of the 利, it enables 利 to contain the meaning of sharp, for example 利刃.

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

苟利国家生死以；岂因祸福避趋之。

秋

Our character today is 秋, which we mentioned during our Middle Autumn Festival. With knowledge of 禾 and 火, we can try to reason why 秋 was created to represent Autumn.

China used to be Agricultural country, farmers burnt the straws of 禾 after harvest in order to eliminate pests, harmful germs and weeds, as well as to fertilize the land. Chinese ancestors draw this representative scene in Autumn to represent Autumn.

burning the straws after harvest

As usual, we will always examine evolution history of 秋 to confirm / understand more about it:

evolution history of 秋

Oracle script of 秋:   is obviously an insect, which is believed to be a cricket. As stated by one of the Chinese poetry in famous 《诗经》: "五月斯螽动股，六月莎鸡振羽。七月在野，八月在宇，九月在户，十月蟋蟀入我床下。" Cricket is taken as a symbolic of Autumn by Chinese. 

cricket

Oracle script added fire under the insect, It is probably to represent the common practice that farmers burn their straws to eliminate pests.

Starting from , 禾 started to appear as part of 秋, which can be a result of increasing importance of 禾 in Chinese agriculture. As  is a simpler way of writing, 秋 followed this trend in its Bronze script  and eventually transformed into its current Regular script: 秋.

So 秋 means autumn, for example 秋天.

Now it is time to enjoy a Chinese calligraphy with 秋 inside:

春花秋月何时了？往事知多少。小楼昨夜又东风，故国不堪回首月明中。
雕栏玉砌应犹在，只是朱颜改。问君能有几多愁？恰似一江春水向东流。

  

禾

Middle Autumn Festival, which in Chinese is 中秋节, is coming. It is one of the most important seasons Chinese families unite together to celebrate with mooncakes, lanterns and word puzzle games.

Looking at 秋, it is composed of 禾 and 火. We have learnt that 火 is a Pictogram character of fire at https://xiongzou.blogspot.com/2016/02/learn-one-chinese-character-day_4.html. Today we proceed to learn what 禾 means.

If you have learnt with us what 木 represents, and it is used as part of 秋, which means Autumn, you might wondering 禾 was drawing of low hanging tree branches full of fruits. It is close. Evolution history of 禾 will tell you the correct answer:

evolution history of 禾

From its Oracle scriptand Bronze script, we realize it is probably not related to fruit trees. And indeed it is a drawing of following plant. Based on our understanding of ancient agriculture of Chinese, 禾 should be created to represent sorghum, millet or similar plants. With 秋 in mind, the harvesting time of 禾 is right around middle of autumn. 

禾

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

锄禾日当午，汗滴禾下土；
谁知盘中餐，粒粒皆幸苦。

米

We have learnt 面 | 麺 before, today we study another character related to our daily food - 米. 

From its modern form of writing, it is not easy to reason its meaning. As usual, let us examine its evolution history to look for hints:

evolution history of 米

To be honest, it is still hard to tell what  represents. With the knowledge of meaning of 米, we can reasoning the logic of how Chinese ancestors created to mean rice, millet or any seeds requires grinding and removal of husk. I assume is indeed the drawing of using a wooden tool to remove husk of grains in ancient China:

连枷脱壳

Bronze script  was trying to represent 米 with the scene of its harvesting. Notice that right hand part of  is drawing of a knife (http://xiongzou.blogspot.com/2012/07/learn-one-chinese-character-day.html):

harvesting

Due to the lazy nature of human being, simpler version of 米 was kept as Seal script .

So 米 can be used to mean any grain seeds with their husk removed. for example 小米, 大米.

And as meter (unit of length) in English sounds very similar to 米, 米 is also used to represent meter, for example one meter is: 一米长.

米 is also a family name in Chinese, for example famous painter in Song Dynasty: 米芾.

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

当家才知盐米贵；养子方知父母恩。

面 | 麺 | 麪

Our character today continues with 面, but it has a total different meaning than face. It is quite obvious with its Traditional Chinese Character counter-party: 麺.

麺 is consisted of 麦, which we know to mean wheat, and 面, which we just learnt to mean face. So what does it mean by face of a wheat?

Actually 麺 does not mean face of a wheat, it is a Phonogram character, 麦 is used to emphasize that 麺 related to wheat, while 面 is its pronunciation part. 麺 pronounces exactly the same as 面.

麺 means noodle. for example 麺条.

面条

面 is its simplified version with 麦 removed. So we can also say 面条.

There is another Traditional character of 麺, which is 麪. Right hand part of 麪 is 丏(whose pronunciations is also mian3).

That is all for 面 | 麺 | 麪, time to enjoy a Chinese calligraphy with 面 | 麺 | 麪 inside:

千人千面

面

We have accumulated a lot of basic Chinese characters during our past learning journey that we can use to assemble more complex characters. While pick up low hanging fruits, we will continue to equip us with new basic characters like this one today: 面.

It is not that easy to guess the meaning of 面 by looking at its modern way of writing. As usual, 面's evolution history will help:

evolution history of 面

Inside the Oracle script , there is a drawing of , which we can recognize easily as drawing of an eye. is Chinese character 目. We can found its detailed explanation at  https://xiongzou.blogspot.com/2011/12/learn-one-chinese-character-day_18.html

Its another Oracle script  emphasizes its relationship with a human.

When it evolved to Seal script , it is much clear that refers to eye. However what does the surrounding referring to? Combined with meaning of 面 we know today, is the outline of a face.

Chinese ancestors noticed eyes as the most obvious and important part of our face and draw it together with the outline of a face to represent the meaning of face:   .

When time passes,  was simplified to our current way of writing: 面, which pretty much lost its original drawing.

So 面 means face as noun. for example 面部.

面 can also be used as verb to mean facing or face to face. for example 面壁,  面谈.

What we facing can refer to a direction or position. for example 前面, 后面.

Face is what we can see from a person, 面 is also used to represent meaning of surface: 表面.

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

胜日寻芳泗水滨，无边光景一时新；
等闲识得东风面，万紫千红总是春。