What does the Chinese character for "water" look like? How did he appear? What meanings, in addition to the literal, are embedded in it? Is the same character used for the concept of water in Chinese and Japanese? An attempt to briefly answer all these questions.
The origin of the hieroglyph
The origin of the hieroglyph "water" is traced back to the so-called pictograms - symbols depicting the appearance of an object. About three thousand years ago, when writing was born in ancient China, it really depicted a seething water stream. But in the process of evolution of Chinese writing, the symbols were significantly schematized. In order to discern the image of water in a modern hieroglyph, you need to have a rich imagination.
Use in Chinese and Japanese
The hieroglyph "water" is one of the 214 keys - the basic elements that make up all the other hieroglyphs. Despite the differences in modern Chinese and Japanese spellings of some characters, "water" looks the same in both languages. True, it is read differently. There is only one reading in Chinese: "shui". ATThe Japanese character for "water" can be read in two ways, depending on the context. "Sui" is a Japanese adaptation of Chinese reading, used only in compound words. "Mizu" is purely Japanese word for water. Hence, by the way, the name of the company Mizu, which produces thermoses.
"Water" and the Eastern view of the world
In classical Chinese metaphysics, the sign "water" is one of the symbols of Wu Xing. Wu Xing is the five primary elements from which all things are formed. The other four elements are: fire, earth, metal, wood.
Besides, in the East Asian variant of geomancy well-known to the Western public – feng shui, the “shui” part means “water” and is written with the same hieroglyph. And "feng" is the wind.
Freeze water with one stroke of the brush
When you add one line to the hieroglyph "water", you get a hieroglyph with the meaning "ice".
The combination of the characters for "ice" and "water" in Japanese will give just water with ice, and in Korean it denotes the name of a popular ice cream dessert in South Korea - bingsu.
"Water" day of the week
In Japanese and Korean, the character for "water" is used in the word for "environment". In the ancient Chinese calendar, each day of the week was associated with a particular planet. Wednesday is the day of Mercury, as, by the way, in the Roman tradition. The name of Mercury is written in hieroglyphs as "water" and "planet". ATIn the names of the days of the week, "planet" is omitted, which simply means "water day". Although the system was invented by the Chinese, in modern Chinese the days of the week are simply words derived from ordinal numbers.
