Amazing Chinese Characters (797) Slaughter - 宰

The shell bone script of character Slaughter is

A big house, there is a 辛 - Pungent (Post 733) inside. 辛 could be toil, here is toil, not pungent. It is butler who manage all house works. The original meaning of the character is Butler or Manager. In Chinese history, the highest ranking official was called 宰相 - the person who runs the Dynasty, like Premier, or State Secretary.  

In Zhou Dynasty, it meant the Food Services Director or Minister who slaughter animals for foods. Therefore the character became slaughter later on.

The bronze script of character Slaughter is

Similar to shell bone script.

The small seal script of character Slaughter is
 

The outside is similar to older scripts, the inside changed more. For detail explanation, please read Post 733.

The clerical script of character Slaughter is

Similar to small seal script, except the top "House Radical" is much shorter.

Pinyin of the character is Zai3.