Amazing Chinese Characters (817) Universe (Time) - 宙

The shell bone script of the character for Universe (Time)  

The door like outside is house, the inside is character for Due To (Post 164), 

 

A water or oil drops into a container, here means an ancient water clocks for timekeeping.

 

The water clock could count the time infinitely. Therefore the character means infinite time, an universe time.

Chinese now use a phrase 宇宙 (infinite space and time) for Universe. 

The big seal script of the character for Universe (time)

Similar to shell bone script except the lines are more smooth and symmetrical.

The small seal script of the character for Universe (time)

Similar to big seal script.

The clerical script of the character for Universe (time) 

The outside big door like becomes a roof like for house, the inside 由 is similar to older scripts. 

The song typeface of the character for Universe (time)

Similar to clerical script.

The pinyin of the character for Universe (time) is Zhou4. 
 

Amazing Chinese Characters (816) Universe (space) - 宇

The bronze script of the character for Universe (space) 

The big door-alike is a big house, the inside is character for At or Prepositions, which means an ancient wind instrument made from bamboo, people could blow a tune with it. When you play a wind instrument, the sound of the music permeates the room, even spreading outdoors, which is the original meaning. But late, people used it to express infinite space.

The big seal script of the character for Universe (space) 

Similar to bronze script.

The small seal script of the character for Universe (space)

 

The outside is similar to that of older scripts, the inside is character for At or Prepositions but two horizontal lines are disconnected, 一 is over 丂. The 丂 is the bamboo instrument (the bamboo pipe bent makes the flow generate sound easier), the 一 on the top is indicator for air flow.

The clerical script of the character for Universe (space)

The outside door like becomes a roof like, the bottom is character for At or Prepositions.

The song typeface of the character for Universe 

Similar to clerical script.

The Pinyin of the character for Universe is Yu3.
 

 

Amazing Chinese Characters (815) Live - 存

The big seal script of the character for Live

 

The left is character for Talent - 才 (Post 351),  the right is character for Child - 子 (Post 21). The original meaning of character Talent is Pillar, the critical structure of a house. The meaning of live is to have a solid living condition (stable housing) and kids for more labor and reproduction. 

There is another character In, On, At  - 在 (Post 385) 

The left is character for Soil (Post 223), the right is character for Talent (Post 223). 

The two characters are often used as a phrase 存在, meaning Exist: people need solid living condition, soil for food to meet current living need, and child for reproduction in the future. 

The small seal script of the character for Live

The left is character for Talent, the right is character for Child.

The clerical script of the character for Live

The right lower part 子 is character for Child, and the rest is character for Talent.

The song typeface of character for Live

 Similar to clerical script.

The Pinyin of the character is Cun2.