Amazing Chinese Characters (599) Residence - 舍 and Abandon - 捨

The bronze script of character Residence is

The top triangle is the roof of hut or shed, the bottom is a semi basement, the middle is the main beam and support beams. The semi basement style residence is to avoid building walls, therefore, it is much easier to build the residence in the ancient time.

The big seal script of character Residence is 

Similar to bronze script. 

The small seal script of character Residence is 

Similar to older scripts.

The clerical script of character Residence is 

Similar to older scripts, except the middle part, the support beams are horizontal, not like support beam anymore. 

The Pinyin of character Residence - 舍 is She4.

The small seal script of character Abandon is

In the ancient time, people hunt wild animal for living. They moved a lot, often abandoned the hut or shed they lived. There are no its shell bone, bronze, big seal scripts, which means that the character was created much later than character 舍. 

The clerical script of character Abandon is

Similar to its small seal script. 

The Pinyin of character 捨 is She3.

捨 also meaning Giving, normally giving help to poor people. 

From the discussion above, we know that 舍 and 捨 are different characters, 舍 was created much earlier than 捨. However, in the simplified song typeface, character 捨 is abandoned, its meaning is merged into character 舍, which reduced one character but makes more confusing. 

First, the pronunciation, before merge, 舍 is pronounced as She4, 捨 is pronounced as She3, even though very close but people could distinguish. After merge, 捨 is abandoned, 舍 is pronounced She3, and She4. You have to pronounce them according to the meaning, "Abandon" should be She3, Residence should be She4. 

Second, it is not easy sometimes to judge where it means Abandon, and where it means Residence. 

Third, right now people consider 捨 is traditional song typeface of 舍, which is wrong. Both 捨 and 舍 are traditional characters, 舍 was created much earlier than 捨. But people wrongly think that in the past, there was only 捨, after simplification experts simplified 捨 to 舍, which is absolutely WRONG!.

This simplification is very bad. 

Amazing Chinese Characters (598) Inside - 里

The bronze script of character Inside is

The top is character Field - 田 (Post 3), the bottom is character Soil - 土 (Post 223). The original meaning of the character is village. 

The big seal script of character Inside is

Similar to bronze script.

The small seal script of character Inside is

Similar to older scripts.

The clerical script of character Inside is

The bottom 

is character Cloth (Post 140). Character Inside is in between the top dot-horizontal-line, which may be a hat. 

However, there is another clerical script of character Inside

Similar as older scripts.

The character got another meaning at least two thousands years ago, which is Chinese Mile (500 meters right now).

Traditional Chinese have both character 裏 and character 里, but each has its own meaning. 裏 means Inside, 里 means Chinese Mile, or Village. Simplified Chinese keeps 里, abandoned 裏, let 里 have Inside (裏）and Chinese Mile (里). 

The Pinyin of the character is Li3.

Amazing Chinese Characters (597) Give - 予

The big seal script of character Give is

Two rings interlocking each other with a tail, which may be silkworm silk, or spider silk.

Silkworm spins silk, which is kind of giving.

The small seal script of character Give is

Similar to big seal script.

The clerical script of character Give is

Totally changed, not like the older script.

The Pinyin of the character is Yu3.

The character 予 is not used alone now, but exist in proverbs and many compound characters.

Amazing Chinese Characters (596) Solicitous - 殷

 The bronze script of character of Solicitous is

The left is character Body (Post 97), a person facing right, raise arms. The right bottom is a hand holding a bent stick with a round head to scratch itchy for the person. 

The big seal script of character of Solicitous is

The left is character Body, the right is character Spear (Post 590), here is hand holding a stick with round head, not spear.

The small seal script of character Solicitous is

The left is character Body, The right is character Spear.

The clerical script of character Solicitous is

The left is changed to a strange form, not character Body. Let us see the clerical script of character Body 

I don't why it is changed to a form unlike character Body.

The Pinyin of character 殷 is Yin1.

Character 殷 means that someone over care, or over concern someone's health to show his kind for potential benefit in the future from the one he cared. Normally this person has power, money, or reputation.

Amazing Chinese Characters (595) Kind - 般

 The shell bone script of character Kind is

The left is character Boat (Post 117), the right is character Spear (Post 590). Soldiers use spear to drive a boat where many stuffs are loaded. The spear is used as weapon and boat pole. The stuffs are belong to King or very high rank official because normal people didn't have boat, not much stuffs, not be able to order soldiers to move stuffs by boat.

The bronze script of character Kind is

Similar to shell bone script.

The big seal script of character Kind is

Similar to older scripts.

Small seal script of character Kind is

The character Boat on the left changed a little bit, the right is character Spear.

The clerical script of character Kind is 

The left is character Boat -舟, the right is character Spear - 殳.

The Pinyin of the character is Ban1.

The meaning of the character changed from Moving to Kind,  people created a new character 搬 to keep the Moving meaning. The left of 搬 is a hand radical, the right is original 般. 

Amazing Chinese Characters (594) Medicine or Medical - 医（醫）

 The big seal script of character Medicine or Medical is

The left is a side open box with a character Arrow (Post 38), here means that a person was injured by arrow. The right is character Spear (Post 590), here means that some one holds a stick or tool to treat the injured person. 

There is another explanation: the left is a box, inside is arrow or something like acupunctural needles; the right is something sharp like spear or knife. All those are medical supplies used to treat patients. 

The above script is very like the big seal script of character Beat (Post 593),

The difference of the two is the dot. Character Beat has no dot, character Medicine or Medical has dot. The dot is an arrow, which indicates a person injured by arrow. No arrow means not injured person even though he would be injured by beaten later on.

The small seal script of character Medicine or Medical is

The top is similar to big seal script above, the bottom, is character 酉 - Liquor Jug (Post 104), here means medical jug with some Chinese medicine inside. As time passed, people knew more about medicine, the treatment was not just to use tool or stick, but Chinese medicine, some are liquid in a jug. 

The clerical script of character Medicine or Medical is

Similar to small seal script.

The traditional song typeface of the character is

Similar to clerical script.

The simplified song typeface of the character is 

which is the top left of the traditional song typeface, meaning is a person injured by an arrow, nothing to do with medicine or medical.

The pinyin of character 医/醫 is Yi1. 

Amazing Chinese Characters (593) Beat - 殴

 The big seal script of character Beating is

The left is a box with a person inside, the right is character Spear (Post 590), here means a beating stick. The person inside the box is beaten by a stick.

The small seal script of character Beat is

The left is character District (Post 296), the right is character Spear. Why the left changed to District which has three 口, could be three or more people are involved a fight. Some one thinks that people beat others with shouting. I don't know which is right.

The clerical script of character Beat is

similar to small seal script.

The pinyin of character 疫 is Ou1.

Amazing Chinese Characters (592) Throw - 投

 The big seal script of character Throw is

The let is character Hand (Post 55), the right is character Spear (Post 590). Soldiers use hand to throw spear to enemy.

The small seal script of character Throw is

Similar to big seal script.

The clerical script of character Throw is

The left is Radical Hand, the right is character Spear.

The pinyin of character Throw (投) is Tou2.

Amazing Chinese Characters (591) Military Service - 役

 The big seal script of character Military Service is 

The left is Road, the right is character 殳 - Spear, here is the soldier who holds the spear to fight on the road, or on the way to fight. 

The small seal script of character Military Service is

Similar to big seal script.

The cleric script of the character is

The left is Radical Double People, here means Road. The right is character Spear.

The Pinyin of the character is Yi4.

The military service was required or forced. Right now the character means any service forced or required, military service, labour service, etc.

Amazing Chinese Characters (590) Spear - 殳

The shell bone script of character Spear is

A hand holds an ancient Spear made of bamboo.

The bronze script of character Spear is

The top is the stick with a ball, the bottom is a hand.

The small seal script of character Spear is

The top is the Spear, the bottom is a hand.

The clerical script of character Spear is

The top is not similar to any spear any more, actually it is another character Several - 几. The bottom is character Again, here means Hand.

The Pinyin of the character is Shu1.

The character 殳 is not used alone now, but it is widely existed in compound characters.