Amazing Chinese Characters (447) Death - 亡

 The shell bone script of character Death is

a person

holding a shield to defend enemy's attack, which may cause death, may not.

The bronze script of the character is

The person is on the left, the shield on the right, similar to the shell bone script except flipped 180 degree. 

The big seal script of the character is

Similar to bronze script.

The small seal script of the character is

Similar to big seal script except the bottom horizontal-down turn, which is typical small seal script stroke, making the stroke more smooth and complex.

The clerical script of the character is

You may see a little similarity to the big seal script, but it is changed so big, not easy to see, and not feel good for this kind change. Anyway it lost the pictography of original form.

The song typeface of the character is

亡

Very similar to clerical script.

The character originally means "Defending and escaping", not "death". But right now, the main meaning is "Death" especially used alone, but the meaning of "Escape" is still exist especially when used with other character to form a two characters word.