工, a pictographic character of a carpenter’s square or a bladed tool, serves as a semantic as well as a phonetic component to form character. Continue reading “工 carpenter’s square”
Category: Life/tools/articles
辰 a hoe
辰, a pictographic character resembling a hoe held by a hand, serves mainly as a phonetic component to form characters. 辰 also serves as a semantic component to express meanings related to farm work. Another version for the origin of辰 is that it resembled a farming tool made of seashells. Continue reading “辰 a hoe”
斗 a wine ladle
斗, a pictographic character of a wine ladle, serves as a semantic as well as a phonetic component to form characters. Continue reading “斗 a wine ladle”
午 a pestle
午, a pictographic character resembling a pestle for grinding rice, now represented by 杵, serves as a phonetic component. Continue reading “午 a pestle”
冬 the end of a year
In bone and bronze inscriptions, 冬 resembles the two ends of a knotted rope, indicating that the winter is the end of a year. 冬 is cognate of 终. Later the meaning of 冬 is extended to “winter”. 冬 serves as a phonetic component to form characters. Continue reading “冬 the end of a year”