Amazing Chinese Characters (821) Zheng - 郑（鄭）

The bronze script of the character for Zheng

Same as the bronze script of the character for Libation (Post 769), which original was not distinguished the ceremony and the celebrant. As time passed, confusion was created, therefore, people add character 邑 - Resident or Villager (Post 561) on the right to represent the celebrant, the original form like the above to represent the ceremony.

The small seal script of the character for Zheng

The left is small seal script of the character for Libation, the right is small seal script of the character for Resident or Villager, people who preside the ceremony. 

The clerical script of the character for Zheng

The left is character Libation, the right is right ear radical, simplified for character Resident or Villager. 

The simplified song typeface of the character for Zheng

 

The left is character Close, which is definitely wrong. It may be from the cursive script, but it is not right for standard form of the character .

Its Pinyin is Zheng4. 

As those ceremonies increased, more people did this job, therefore, people call them 郑 - Zheng. Another possibility is the empire granted the imperial surname 郑 - Zheng.

Right now, its major meaning (95% times) is surname.