Amazing Chinese Characters (621) Periphery - 周（週）

 The shell bone script of character Periphery is

It is a field divided to many small pieces, the dots or short line in the center of each piece are farmers who are working in the field. The character also means Zhou Dynasty, which is famous for its good agricultural industry. People of Zhou Dynasty were good at agricultural industry.

The bronze script of character Periphery is

The top is like character Use (Post 620), here means a field surrounded by fence. The bottom is character Mouth which means "Manage by speech". Agriculture is difficult to manage, which needs many cooperations, manages many people to work together, and fights against flood, or drought, etc. Therefore, the character also means "Thoughtful", "Comprehensive", etc.

The small seal script of character Periphery is

The top is character Use, also similar to bronze script of character Periphery. The bottom is character Mouth.

The clerical script of character Periphery is

Similar to small seal script, but the top left is sealed, the inside vertical line doesn't go through all the horizontal lines.

The Pinyin of the character is Zhou1.

The character has many meanings: periphery, circle, comprehensive, even Week, and Zhou Dynasty. But Periphery is its original meaning.

Amazing Chinese Characters (620) Use - 用

 The shell bone script of character Use is

It is a wood fence, or gate of fence. The left top is an open gate for people to get in and out. The fence was very useful, because it protects the people in village. 

The bronze script of character Use is

Similar to shell bone script.

The big seal script of character Use is

Similar to older scripts.

The small seal script of character Use is

Similar to older scripts.

The clerical script of character Use is

Similar to older scripts except the open gate disappeared because people at that time (Han Dynasty, 202 BC - 220 AC) paid much more attention to how quick they could write than the pictography of the characters. It is quicker to write one line without break.

The Pinyin of the character is Yong4.

Amazing Chinese Characters (619) Darling - 卿

 The bronze script of character Darling is

There is a food container in the middle, two people are kneeled down face to face, ready to eat. The character is similar to character Village - 乡 (Post 191), let's see the shell bone script of character Village

The middle is food container, two people kneeled down and face to face. The major difference between the two characters is that the mouths in Darling are closed, the the mouths in Village are open. I think that the character Darling describes the picture before meal, the character Village describes the picture during eating. The close mouth of the two people in character Darling could be two of them speaking very gently, just like a falling in love couple conversations. The open big mouth in character Village means they talk loudly and enjoy the food more than the conversation.

The big seal script of character Darling is

The food container is in middle, and two people sit on two sides.

The small seal script of character Darling is

The middle food container has a difference support, two people are on two sides.

Let's compare the small seal script of character Darling with the small seal script of character Village

Both middle are same, but the sides are different. The Darling are two character Person, the Village are two character Town (Post 561), meaning the place where people live.  It is clear that there are more than two people share the food in character Village.

The clerical script of character Darling is

The middle part changed a lot, but still has some similarity to older scripts. the two sides are not similar to older scripts. The right part is simplified character Person, but the left part is not. However, if we remove the middle part, we get a character Enon and Mortise - 卯 (Post 469)

Which means "Close connected", "Perfect match", close to the situation: two people sit in a table to share food, indicating they are close friends, the meaning of character Darling. 

The character Darling was used often by Empire to call his ministers as "爱卿“ - Lovely Darling. Also there is proverb "卿卿我我“， which means "lovey-dovey", or two lovers sit very close and say love words each other.

The Pinyin of the character Darling is Qing1.

People use "亲爱的“ as Darling more often, especially in oral Chinese. 卿 is used in written Chinese occasionally right now.

 

Amazing Chinese Characters (618) House - 房

 The big seal script of character House is 

The top is character Household (Post 271), actually it is a door. The bottom is character Square (Post 273).  A house has door(s), and normally is square or rectangle in shape. The character also means the traditional big square courtyard.

The small seal script of character House is

Similar to big seal script, but more curves. 

The clerical script of character House is

More straight lines.

The Pinyin of the character is Fang2.

Amazing Chinese Characters (617) City Subdivision - 坊

The big seal script of character City Subdivision is

The left is character Soil (Post 223), the right is character Square. A square area built by soil is the original 

meaning which could be houses along streets - neighborhood. 

The small seal script of character City Subdivision is

Similar to big seal script.

The clerical script of character City Subdivision is

The left is character Soil, the right is character Square.

The Pinyin of the character is Fang3.

The character also means handicraft workshop, memorial square, or some area with square shape (not need to be restrict square).

Amazon Chinese Characters (616) Release - 放

The bronze script of character Release is

The left is character Square (Post 273), the right is character Beating Ruler（攴）, which means "hit or beat". The top 卜 is a ruler or similar tool, the bottom is a hand. A person who holds a beating ruler beats a person in the cangue during exile, which is the original meaning of the character. The character 攴 was abandoned long time (maybe more than 2000 years ago), but it is in many compound characters.

The big seal script of character Release is

The left is character Square, the right is character Beating Ruler, similar to bronze script.

The small seal script of character Release is

Similar to older scripts, but more curves.

The clerical script of character Release is

The left is character Square and The right is Beating Ruler.

The Pinyin of the character is Fang4.

The character has many meanings now: release, discharge, set, place, let go, etc.