Amazing Chinese Characters (461) Diligent - 勤

 The bronze script of character Diligent is

The left is character Viola - 堇 (Post 460), the right long curve is character Power - 力 (Post 168), which originally means a plow. A person who uses plow the violet and grass to plant crops,  is diligent.

In the ancient time, there were much less farm cattle, most of time, people pull the plow, very tough jon. Those people are diligent.

The dictionary of pictography explanation for this character is that a person who is sentenced to death working harder than normal people because it explains the left part 堇 as a hang and fire punishments. But I don't think that they are right explanations. 

The big seal script of the character is

Similar to the bronze script.

The small script of the character is

The left is similar to the corresponding part in older scripts. The right part is the long curve plow in the older scripts, but shorter and more straight.

The clerical script of the character is

The left part is similar to the left of older scripts, but the round circle becomes a rectangle, the two dots disappeared, and the falling strokes become horizontal line.

The song typeface of the character is

勤

Almost same as the clerical script.

The Pinyin of the character is Qin2.