思 | sī

In Mandarin Chinese, 思 (Pinyin: sī 🔊) has several meanings related to our mental activity. It could be a verb for “to think”, “to miss”, “to yearn for”, “to hope”, “to wish”, “to lament” or “to grieve for”; or a noun for “thought”, “idea”, “feeling” or “mood”. So 我思你 or 我思妳 (wǒ sī nǐ) may mean “I miss you” or “I think about you”. Thus Cartesian Cogito, ergo sum, translated to Chinese as 我思故我在, acquires a wonderful polysemy: not just “I think therefore I am” but also “I hope therefore I am”, “I yearn therefore I am” and even “I grieve therefore I am” — all are aspects of human existence.

As you can see, 思 is made of 田 “field” on top of 心, “heart/mind”. But why “field”? According to Wiktionary, the original form of this character was 恖, a phono-semantic, or maybe also ideogrammic, compound of 囟 “fontanel” and 心 “heart”. Then 囟 was “corrupted” into the unrelated 田. The Uncle Hanzi’s page shows that this “corruption” was no more than a 45° rotation of the “cross in a box”; there’s much more variation in the shape of the “heart”.

Lawrence J. Howell writes in his Etymological Dictionary of Han/Chinese Characters:

The relevant oracle bone form of this character shows that the top element was originally not 田 field but a depiction of a profusion of fine bones in fontanels, open spaces in an infant’s skull over which the skull bones eventually fuse <...> 思 adds 心 heart/emotions → finely detailed thoughts → think; consider; believe → be sunk in thought.

Etymology aside, I prefer to think of 思 as a ship with a square sail and oars, because to think is to sail.

Compounds of 思 include

三 + 思 = 三思 (sānsī): to think twice (literally, “think thrice”) 不 + 思 = 不思 (bùsī): to not take into consideration 思 + 春 = 思春 (sīchūn): to have thoughts of love 思 + 力 = 思力 (sīlì): power of thought, intellect 思 + 乡 “country”, “village” = 思乡 (sīxiāng): to be homesick

In Japanese, 思 (omu) seems to only have one meaning, “to think”.

柿に思ふ 奈良の旅籠の 下女の顔 子規 Kaki ni omou Nara no hatago no gejo no kao The persimmons make me think Of the face of a servant At an inn of Nara. Shiki

年々に 菊に思はん 思はれん 子規 Nen nen ni kiku ni omowan omowaren Every year Thinking of the chrysanthemums, Being thought of by them. Shiki (All haiku translated by R.H. Blyth)

More photos related to thought, hanzi and calligraphy @ Shutterstock.