fude
writing brush
12 strokes
鉛筆 ENPITSU pencil
筆者 HISSHA writer
筆使い fudezukai penmanship
OBI ; seal . The simpler, older form shows a hand holding a writing brush (聿 159); to this, 58 ‘bamboo’ was later added, reflecting the fact that brushes typically had a bamboo shaft, though sometimes wood was used. In OBI, texts were sometimes written first using a brush, then incised with a knife-like instrument. The brush was the most common writing instrument in China and Japan until displaced by the steel-tipped pen, etc. in modern times. YK1976:426; KJ1970:55; MS1995:v2:1062.
Mnemonic: HAND HOLDS BAMBOO WRITING BRUSH
401
L3
氷
HYŌ, kōri
ice
5 strokes
氷山 HYŌZAN iceberg
氷点 HYŌTEN freezing point
氷水 kōrimizu ice water
OBI (冫); bronze (冰); seal ; the latter now a CO 冰 . Quite a rare graph in OBI and bronze. OBI form depicts cracks or irregularities in ice. At bronze stage 水 42 ‘water’ was added on the left, but in the seal script this changed to the right, giving 冰 , as in modern Chinese usage. The form 氷 standard in Japanese is found in Chinese calligraphic tradition (Tang Dynasty onwards). Distinguish also from 永 644 ‘long’. MR2007:450; MS1995:v1:116; KJ1970:809; FC1974:v1:191-2. Suggest taking the extra stroke relative to 水 42 ‘water’ (at the top left) as a crack in the ice.
Mnemonic: A CRACK IN THE WATER? – THAT MUST MEAN ICE
402
L3
表
HYŌ, omote, arawasu
show, surface, list
8 strokes
表面 HYŌMEN surface
表現 HYŌGEN expression
時刻表 JIKOKUHYŌ timetable
Seal . Has 衣 444 ‘clothing’, and 毛 230 ‘fur, hair’. The function of the element 毛 is disputed: taken either as phonetic with associated sense ‘envelop, enclose’, to give ‘outer garment to cover inside’ (Katō, Mizukami, Yamada), or as semantic and interpreted as a garment worn over a fur coat (Mizukami, Qiu). The meanings ‘front, surface; show’ are extended usages. KJ1970:843-4; MS1995:v2:1164-5; YK1976:427; QX2000:20. Suggest take the top part as odd variant of ‘master’ 主 315, with ‘clothing’ 衣.
Mnemonic: THE ODD MASTER’S CLOTHES SHOW A LONG LIST
403
L3
秒
BYŌ
second (of time)
9 strokes
二秒 NIBYŌ two seconds
秒針 BYŌSHIN a second hand
秒速 BYŌSOKU speed per sec.
Seal ; a late graph (Shuowen). Has 禾 87 ‘grain plant/cereal’, and 少 160 (‘few, little’) taken either as phonetic and semantic meaning ‘small’ (Ogawa), or as phonetic with associated sense ‘slender, thin’ (Yamada) or ‘ear (of cereal)’ – again, something small – (Katō). The sense ‘small’ was then extended to small units, giving ‘second’ in the dimension of time. KJ1970:847; YK1976:429; OT1968:731.
Mnemonic: A LITTLE BIT OF CEREAL EATEN IN A SECOND
404
L4
病
BYŌ, yamai, yamu
illness, sickness
10 strokes
病気 BYŌKI illness
病人 BYŌNIN sick person
黒死病 KOKUSHIBYŌ plague
Seal ; a late graph (Shuowen). Has 疒 ‘(sick-) bed’ (the ‘sickness’ determinative, based on a person resting on a bed), and 丙 1932 (originally, probably chopping board used in rituals, now ‘third class’), as phonetic with associated sense ‘be added’, to give ‘illness which gets worse’. KJ1970:837,938-40; YK1976:429; OT1968:678; SS1984:728.
Mnemonic: THIRD CLASS HEALTH LEADS TO ILLNESS
405
L4
品
HIN, shina
goods, quality, kind
9 strokes
商品 SHŌHIN commodity
品質 HINSHITSU quality
品物 shinamono goods
OBI ; seal form similar . Has three mouths, taken to mean ‘talk a lot, many people talking’. Yamada has a similar view regarding a generalised meaning of talking. Ma takes ‘goods’ as a loan usage. Note that already in OBI this graph appears to have had quite a wide semantic range: ‘a kind, class, piece’ (Schuessler). As Mizukami and others have noted, three here denotes ‘many’ rather than specifically ‘three’ (cf. 森 40). MR2007:250; YK1976:430; KJ1970:207; AS2007:415; MS1995:v1:228-9. Take as three boxes.
Mnemonic: THREE BOXES OF QUALITY GOODS
406
L3
負
FU, makeru/kasu, ou
defeat, carry
9 strokes
負傷 FUSHŌ wound
負担 FUTAN burden
負け嫌い makegirai unyielding
Bronze ; seal . Generally taken as ‘person’ (see 人 41), on top of 貝 10 (original meaning ‘shell, money’) used here as phonetic with associated sense ‘the back’, to give ‘carry [someone] on the back’ (Katō, Yamada, Ogawa), and then more generally ‘carry on the back’. Shirakawa, though, takes it more literally as ‘carry shellfish on the back’. ‘Turn the back on, oppose’ may be seen as extended usage, and ‘be defeated’ as a loan usage. KJ1970:821; YK1976:433; MS1995:v2:1230-32; OT1968:952; SS1984:740.
Mnemonic: DEFEATED PERSON CARRIES SHELL-MONEY
