Amazing Chinese Characters (817) Universe (Time) - 宙

The shell bone script of the character for Universe (Time)  

The door like outside is house, the inside is character for Due To (Post 164), 

 

A water or oil drops into a container, here means an ancient water clocks for timekeeping.

 

The water clock could count the time infinitely. Therefore the character means infinite time, an universe time.

Chinese now use a phrase 宇宙 (infinite space and time) for Universe. 

The big seal script of the character for Universe (time)

Similar to shell bone script except the lines are more smooth and symmetrical.

The small seal script of the character for Universe (time)

Similar to big seal script.

The clerical script of the character for Universe (time) 

The outside big door like becomes a roof like for house, the inside 由 is similar to older scripts. 

The song typeface of the character for Universe (time)

Similar to clerical script.

The pinyin of the character for Universe (time) is Zhou4. 
 

Amazing Chinese Characters (816) Universe (space) - 宇

The bronze script of the character for Universe (space) 

The big door-alike is a big house, the inside is character for At or Prepositions, which means an ancient wind instrument made from bamboo, people could blow a tune with it. When you play a wind instrument, the sound of the music permeates the room, even spreading outdoors, which is the original meaning. But late, people used it to express infinite space.

The big seal script of the character for Universe (space) 

Similar to bronze script.

The small seal script of the character for Universe (space)

 

The outside is similar to that of older scripts, the inside is character for At or Prepositions but two horizontal lines are disconnected, 一 is over 丂. The 丂 is the bamboo instrument (the bamboo pipe bent makes the flow generate sound easier), the 一 on the top is indicator for air flow.

The clerical script of the character for Universe (space)

The outside door like becomes a roof like, the bottom is character for At or Prepositions.

The song typeface of the character for Universe 

Similar to clerical script.

The Pinyin of the character for Universe is Yu3.
 

 

Amazing Chinese Characters (815) Live - 存

The big seal script of the character for Live

 

The left is character for Talent - 才 (Post 351),  the right is character for Child - 子 (Post 21). The original meaning of character Talent is Pillar, the critical structure of a house. The meaning of live is to have a solid living condition (stable housing) and kids for more labor and reproduction. 

There is another character In, On, At  - 在 (Post 385) 

The left is character for Soil (Post 223), the right is character for Talent (Post 223). 

The two characters are often used as a phrase 存在, meaning Exist: people need solid living condition, soil for food to meet current living need, and child for reproduction in the future. 

The small seal script of the character for Live

The left is character for Talent, the right is character for Child.

The clerical script of the character for Live

The right lower part 子 is character for Child, and the rest is character for Talent.

The song typeface of character for Live

 Similar to clerical script.

The Pinyin of the character is Cun2. 

 

Amazing Chinese Characters (814) And - 而

The shell bone script of the character for And

The side view of long beard, which is the original meaning of the character. Right now it is a popular conjunction in sentence same as And, But, Then, In addition, Furthermore, Moreover, etc. No explanation could be found how and why it becomes those meanings. what I guess is that long beard indicates old man who has much more experience and knowledge than middle aged and young people, therefore he was asked to give advice while discussion. He may often say "and, but, then, in addition, furthermore, moreover, etc. to give more examples in different situation during analysis before providing his final advice.

The bronze script of the character for And 

which is a front view of long beard.

The big seal script of the character for And

Similar to bronze script.

The small seal script of the character for And

The uneven beard. 

The clerical script of the character for And

Similar to big seal. 

The song typeface of the character for And

Similar to clerical script.

The Pinyin of the character is Er2. 

 

Amazing Chinese Characters (813) I or Me - 俺

The big seal script of the character for I or Me 

The left the character for Person (Post 37), the right is character for Cover. A person who is covered by crowd, which means "A person completely lost in the crowd", servant, attendant, petty person, lackey, etc. used humble self-reference in ancient time. It is still used nowadays in countryside of northern China.

The small seal script of the character for I or Me

The left is the character for Person, the right is character for Cover.

The clerical script of the character for I or Me

The left is the radical Person, and the right is the character for Cover. 

The song typeface of the character for I or Me 

Similar to clerical script.

The Pinyin for the character for I or Me is An3.
 

Amazing Chinese Characters (812) Pickle - 腌

The big seal script of the character for Pickle 

The left is radical Meat, the right is character for Cover (Post 809). Put the meat in a container, then cover it, keep it for some time, which means Pickle.

The small seal script for the character for Pickle

The left is radical Meat, the right is character for Cover

Similar to small seal script, but the strokes are more straight.

The song typeface of the character for Pickle 

Similar to clerical script.

The Pinyin of the character for Pickle is Yan1.

Traditional Chinese has a variant form 醃, the left is character 酉 (Post 104) - Liquor Jug: put the meat into a jug (with some salt), cover the jug for some time. The simplified Chinese abandoned the character.

 

Amazing Chinese Characters (811) To Cover - 掩

The big seal script of character for To Cover is

The left is character for Hand (Post 55), the right is character for Cover (Post 809), which is the original character for the current one. The difference of the two characters for Cover is that the original one is passive cover, we may say it is "covered". The current one is initiative cover, or to cover with hand or without hand.

The small seal script of character for To Cover is 

The left is character for Hand, the irght is character for Cover.

The clerical script of character for To Cover is

The left is radical Hand, the right is character for Cover.

The song typeface of character for To Cover is  

Similar to clerical script of character for To Cover.

The Pinyin of character for To Cover is Yan3.