0067 弱

弱

This character means ‘weak.’ In Japanese it’s pronounced JAKU or yowai, and in Chinese it’s ruò.

The archaic character below looks almost exactly like today’s version:

.

Sears gives a wonderful and very easy-to-see explanation: it’s a picture of two wings of  a baby bird. And what could be weaker than that?

0066 店

店

This character means ‘shop, store,’ and is pronounced TEN or mise in Japanese and dìan in Chinese.

The outer figure

广

represents a hut, shed, or shop, according to Wieger. The inner figure

占

is only there to provide a phonetic hint. It means ‘to hold, occupy’ in Japanese, but in Chinese (and Japanese, too) it means ‘to tell fortunes.’ I'm guessing that the upper two perpendicular lines represent the crack that appear when tortoise shells are roasted for divination, as we learned in an earlier post. The mouth below is probably uttering the prophesy.

For learning today’s character, perhaps it would help to remember the phrase ‘hold down the shop’ in order to learn two characters at the same time. Alternatively, this might be a fortune-teller’s shop.

0065 考

考

This character means ‘think, consider,’ and is pronounced kangaeru in Japanese. In Chinese it’s pronounced  kǎo and means ‘to examine, test.’

Sears says that it’s a picture of an old man leaning on a cane, and that the Chinese meaning went from ‘depend on (the cane)’ to ‘test, examine.’ Wieger thinks that the ‘examining’ developed because it was up to the elders to examine pupils and candidates. He also thinks that the supposed cane in the character is really an abstract portrayal of ‘difficulty in breathing.’ “The line bent up represents the breath that tries to go out, but is checked by the transversal barrier.” And in this character, he says that it represents the asthma of old men. (See 'Useful Information' for information about Sears and Wieger.)

It’s hard to see what all of the appendages represent for the old man. Legs, arms, and a hat?

Here are some of the charming archaic forms:

        

0063 町

町

This character is pronounced CHŌ or machi in Japanese, meaning ‘street, town, quarter’ and dīng in Chinese, meaning ‘a raised path between fields.’ The right-hand element

田

means ‘a field, a (rice) paddy,’ and the right-hand element

丁

means ‘a city block-size area,’ and is also used as a counter for dishes of food, blocks of tofu, and guns (!) in Japanese, but in Chinese it means ‘a male adult; robust, vigorous.’ Wieger says it originally pictured a nail, with the head and the shank apparent.

It’s easy enough to remember ‘field,’ based on the left-hand element, and the right-hand element could be seen as two streets coming together in a T-junction.

0064 騒

騒

This character means ‘make a noise, make a fuss,’ and is pronounced SŌ and sawagu in Japanese, sāo in Chinese. I could find no information about its derivation. It’s parts, though, provided a simple story by which it could be remembered.

The left-hand element

馬

means ‘horse.' See the four legs and the tail and the streaming mane? The upper right-hand element

又

means ‘and, again, also, in addition,’ and the lower right-hand element

虫

means ‘insect.’

A horse is repeatedly bothered by insects and makes a fuss, makes a lot of noise.

Interestingly, these two characters together

騒人

mean ‘poet’ (sōjin), at least in Japanese. (The second character means 'man, person.') Apparently, poets are those who make noise and make a fuss. Or, at least, they used to be.

0062 問

問

This character means ‘to ask, to inquire,’ pronounced tou in Japanese and wèn in Chinese, and ‘question, problem,’ pronounced MON in Japanese.

These elements

門

represent the two facing leaves of a door and mean ‘a gate, a door,’ and

口

means ‘a mouth.’ So ‘to ask’ is to place a mouth at a door.

0061 守

守

This character means ‘to protect, guard, obey.’ In Japanese it is pronounced SHU and mamoru, in Chinese shoǔ.

The upper figure

宀

means ‘roof.’ The lower figure

寸

represents a hand here, which is seen as guarding the home.

The ancient character

clearly shows the home and hand. We talk about ‘ancient’ characters, but how ancient is ancient? Very. This style of writing was used from around 1100 BCE or earlier to 200 BCE and beyond. It is still used in seals and calligraphy.