floatingmoon Posted May 22, 2008 at 10:22 AM Report Share Posted May 22, 2008 at 10:22 AM Does any one know the origin of 保?how is it created? Like for 山 I know it's because it looks like three stood up mountains. 人 of course it looks like a human. But how about 保? Hope someone can help, thank you very much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monto Posted May 22, 2008 at 11:10 AM Report Share Posted May 22, 2008 at 11:10 AM 养,育 ----- raise Adult (人字旁),with a hand over a child's head meaning "to take care of". Following pic is scanned from 《说文通训定声》by [清] 朱骏声 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don_Horhe Posted May 24, 2008 at 10:25 AM Report Share Posted May 24, 2008 at 10:25 AM You can also check the etymology of characters on the following website: http://www.chineseetymology.org/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Altair Posted May 25, 2008 at 12:24 AM Report Share Posted May 25, 2008 at 12:24 AM Zhongwen.com and Wenlin imply that 亻represents a person holding a baby (子, originally with a rounder head) wrapped in blankets or swaddling clothes represented by 八. 子 surrounded by 八 ended up looking like 呆. Wenlin also quotes Lindqvist as saying: "On the oracle bones and bronzes, in some cases we see the child safe in the adult's arms, and other times the child is carried on a back, just as children are carried in China today." In the later case, the image seems to be lacking the 八 element, and the 子 part is joined directly to the bent back on the right side of curved 亻 element. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
floatingmoon Posted May 25, 2008 at 12:46 AM Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2008 at 12:46 AM Thank you all, and thank you very much Altair. I know the 亻is mean person. But I wasn't able to figure it out the 呆. My friend was making a joke: 幫人做保很危險,所以人呆才會為人擔「保」. Which started me to trying to figure it out the "real" origin of 保. The joke is not the real explanation, but I am amaze by the creative ways to explain the joke, haha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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