Amazing Chinese Characters (690) Technique - 术（術）

The big seal script of character Technique is

The middle is character Fork (Post 179), plus two long dots which is a wood shelf for the long fork which was a weapon in ancient time. The outside 

is character Road or Street.

People who were good at the weapons including long fork showed their skills of operating them on the street, some audiences left some money in the hat or other container for them. People called them "The Street Artists". 

The big seal script of Fork 

Why are there two dots each side? They are legs or supports of the weapon shelf.

The original meaning of the character is Special Skill, not Technique. The character still has the meaning of special skills, also technique, and art now. 

The small script of character Technique is

Similar to big seal script, inside is fork and shelf, the two sides are streets. 

The clerical script of the character Technique is

The outside is Road or Street, the middle is fork and shelf. The curves of fork are pulled to straight lines.

The simplified song typeface of character Technique is

Just the middle fork and shelf, street is disappeared.

The pinyin of the character is Shu4.

术 is used much wider than before, could be art, medicine, technology, special skills, etc. 

Amazing Chinese Character (689) Twig - 杈

 The big seal script of character Twig is

The left is character Wood (Post 10), the right is character Fork (Post 179). It is clear to mean the fork on tree (wood) , which is Twig.

The small seal script of character Twig is

Similar to big seal script.

The clerical script of character Twig is

The left is Radical Wood, the right is character Fork.

The pinyin of the character is Cha1.

Amazing Chinese Characters (688) Smoked (meat) - 腊（臘）

 The bronze script of character Smoked (meat) is

The top is wave, the bottom is Mouth (the square) and Meat (月）. The Mouth could be 日(Day) by mistake. Wave + Day = 昔 （Old Days). A piece of meat (e.g. pork) has been preserved for long time. In China, the most popular traditional preserved meat is smoked pork made from pork in the smoke for months.

The big seal script of character Smoked (meat) is

The left is Radical Meat, the right is character Rodent (Post 687). The character means that the smoked meat made from rodent animal. 

The small seal script of character Smoked (meat) is

Similar to big seal script.

However, there is another small seal script of character Smoked (meat)

The top is character Old Days, the bottom is character Meat. It is obvious from the bronze script.

The clerical script of character Smoked (meat) is

The left is Radical Meat, and right is character 巤（wild animal). It is clear that people abandoned the "Old Days + Meat" form, accepted the "Meat + Rodent Animal" for this character. The reason is unknown.

The song typeface of the character is

The right part changed back to character Old Days, which is OK because meat in old days could be preserved by smoking for long time.

The Pinyin of the character La4.

Amazing Chinese Characters (687) Hunt - 猎（獵）

 The bronze script of character Hunt is

The left is character Dog (Post 116), the right is character Rodent.

The bronze script of character Rodent is

very similar to character Mice or Rat.

Let's see the big seal script of character Mouse or Rat (Post 119)

The big seal script of character Mouse or Rat

Mouse or Rat is Rodent.

The dog is helper of hunter. The right top 巛 on the right is explained by all dictionaries including 漢典: animal long hair. I disagree. The 巛 is simplified 川, which means river or water flow. Here it means wet. There are two possibilities: 1, after killing the rodent animal, it is covered blood, kind of wet. 2, people preserved extra meat by smoking them. After smoked, the meat looks sloppy, same as people preserve meat with salt, and smoke them on the beam. The preserved meat looks black,  oil seeps out, kind of wet. The first case is more likely.

The small script of 巤 is

Similar to bronze script.

The big seal script of character Hunt is

Similar to the bronze script: the left is character Dog, the right is character Rodent.

The small seal script of character Hunet is

Similar to older scripts.

The clerical script of character Hunt is

The left is Radical Dog, and right is character Rodent.

The song typeface of character Hunt is

The right part changed to character Old Days (Post 326), which is confusion. Hunting is Old Days activity? Not really. 

The Pinyin of the character Lie4.

Amazing Chinese Characters (686) Person with special talent - 桀

The big seal script of character Person with special talent is

The top is character 舛, which looks like two feet on the branches of a tree, which means that a person who could walk on the tree, same as one of Chinese Qigong: the practicer could let hit body weight significantly lighter, and jump over a wall, or walk on the roof or tree.

The small seal script of character Person with special talent is 

Similar to its big seal script.

The clerical script of character Person with special talent is

The top character 舛 is separated from the character Wood (木）, the two feet are not touch the branches, the pictography is lost. 

The Pinyin of the character is Jie1.

The character is used for people who is over proud of his special talent, like to show off, and look down people. 

Amazing Chinese Characters (685) Emperor Shun - 舜

The big seal script of character Emperor Shun is

The top is box with an open on the right, there are two Fires in the box, which is character Hot. The bottom is character Unusual in the previous post, here it means the dancing feet. The Emperor Shun was an Emperor lived in about 4300 years ago. It is said that the Emperor Shun is a Sun God who bring the light to people against dark. It is also said that bad guys misguided him to a house, and closed all doors, and put the house on fire, Emperor Shun used a bamboo hat to cover his head and escaped from the fire. 

The character has fire in a box on top, and dancing feet in the bottom. We can imagine that Emperor Shun take the fire for us, which changed our life forever. 

The small seal script of character Emperor Shun is

Similar to big seal script.

The clerical script of character Emperor Shun is

The top totally changed to nothing to with fire and box, but a top of character 愛 (love)，受 (give)，which means "hand on something". The reason why it changes is unknown.

The Pinyin of the character is Shun4.

The character 舜 is specifically for Emperor Shun, no any other meaning.

Amazing Chinese Characters (684) Unusual - 舛

 The big seal script of character Unusual is

Two feet in opposite and twisted footsteps, which is unusual. Normally it happens in dancing or quick movements.

The small seal script of character Unusual is

Two feet in opposite directions, not as bad as the situation of big seal script, but still a strange position.

The clerical script of character Unusual is

The left becomes character Evening, but it is a mistake, it should be foot. The right one is a foot. 

The character is not used alone, but it is part of compound characters, or part of a proverb sentence. 

The pinyin of the character is Chuan3.