Amazing Chinese Characters (781) Salty - 咸

The big seal script of character Salty is 

The right top and right together is character 戌 (Post 779), the left bottom is character 口 (Post 16). The 戌 is an ancient weapon - pole - axe, which can injure or kill people, causing bleeding which is salty.

Why did ancient Chinese use salt to mean salty? First, it is difficult to describe Salt, besides, salt was very difficult to get, not everyone could have salt often. Ancient Chinese liked to use more popular things to describe the meaning, blood is well known by everyone. Therefore, the character Salty is formed by weapon and mouth the organ for tasting. 

The bronze script of character Salty is

The top is character 戌, and bottom middle is character 口. 

The small seal script of character Salty is

Similar to bronze script.

The clerical script of character Salty is

Similar to small seal script.

The pinyin of character 咸 is Xian2.