0043 事

事

This character means ‘thing, matter, business, affair,’ and is pronounced JI or koto in Japanese and shì in Chinese.

The image is of a hand (the three lower horizontal lines) writing down (with a brush, the long vertical stroke) what is said by a mouth (the rectangle below the upper horizonal line), ergo ‘business,’ according to Sears. However, Wieger says it’s the hand of a son inviting the (upside-down) soul of his ancestor, hence ‘to serve,’ and providing service is what business matters are all about.

The ancient versions look very much like the current version:

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Instead of a mouth, the rectangle is interpreted, according to this theory, as the head of the upside- down humanoid ancestor.