In Mandarin Chinese, 酉 (Pinyin: yǒu 🔊) is a useful word meaning “an alcoholic drink vessel” (such as bottle, jar and so on). 酉 is also the tenth of twelve earthly branches. It corresponds to the Year of the Rooster (鸡) of the Chinese zodiac; the eighth month; the hour of the Rooster (5 pm to 7 pm, “the time when Roosters begin to get back to their coops”); and the direction 270° (i.e. west). Its associated “fixed element” is Metal, 金. Note that the character 鸡 refers to actual fowl while 酉 refers to the zodiac bird.
Does the shape of 酉 remind you anything? That’s right, it looks very much like the character 四. Only in case of 酉 we see the Greek letter π trying to get more visible, perhaps with a little help of a bench or something. In fact, 酉 has evolved from a pictogram of a jug (of wine).
More photos related to chickens, zodiac and sea glass @ Shutterstock.
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