忘 | wàng | wáng

In Mandarin Chinese, 忘 (Pinyin: wàng 🔊 or wáng 🔊) means “to forget”.

According to Wiktionary, 忘 is both phono-semantic and ideogrammic compound:

phonetic 亡 (OC *maŋ, “to lose, disappear, flee”) + semantic 心 (“heart”).

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

As per 亡 (obscure) + 心 heart/emotions → obscure state of mind, in the form of forgetfulness or overlooking something → forget; overlook; leave behind.

As forgetting usually has negative connotations, 忘 is often found in combination with 不 “not”: 不忘 (bù wàng), “don’t forget”:

• 念 + 念 + 不 + 忘 = 念念不忘 (niàn niàn bù wàng): to keep in mind constantly; to never forget
• 永 + 志 + 不 + 忘 = 永志不忘 (yǒng zhì bù wàng): to remember forever and never forget
• 安 + 不 + 忘 + 危 = 安不忘危 (ān bù wàng wēi): to be mindful of possible danger in time of peace

But why should it have negative connotations? One of my university professors used to call the ability to forget a golden feature of our brain. Without it, our memories, to quote Funes the Memorious, would be “like a garbage heap”. Not only that. In his Nobel Lecture, Elie Wiesel said:

it is surely human to forget, even to want to forget. The Ancients saw it as a divine gift. Indeed if memory helps us to survive, forgetting allows us to go on living.

Like other hanzi with 心 in the lower part (思, 想, 念, 意, 息), 忘 reminds me of a sailship.

Other compounds of 忘 include

• 忘 + 我 = 忘我 (wàngwǒ): selfless
• 忘 + 年 = 忘年 (wàngnián): to disregard age
• 忘年 + 交 = 忘年交 (wàngniánjiāo): friend despite the difference in age
• 勿 + 忘 + 草 = 勿忘草 (wùwàngcǎo): forget-me-not

Haiku time! In Japanese, the verb “to forget” is 忘れる (わすれる), wasureru. Here are three haiku where you can see the stem 忘れ, wasure:

燕や 何を忘れて 中がへり 乙由 Tsubakuro ya nani wo wasurete chūgaeri The swallow Turns a somersault; What has it forgotten? Otsuyu 長閑さや 早き月日を 忘れたり 太祇 Nodokasa ya hayaki tsukihi wo wasuretari Calm days, The swift years Forgotten. Taigi 忘れ草は 咲󠄁けど忘れね 昔哉 諸九尼 Wasuregusa wa sakedo wasurenu mukashi kana The forget-me-not is blooming; But the things of long ago, — How can I forget them? Shokyū-ni * (All haiku translated by R.H. Blyth)

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*

In Blyth’s book (Haiku vol. 3, Summer—Autumn, Hokuseido Press, 1952, p. 313), this haiku appears as わすれ草は咲󠄁けどわすれね昔哉 For the purposes of this post, I took the liberty to replace わす with 忘. Blyth also writes in a footnote to the word “forget-me-not” (ibid., p. 314): The Japanese is a “forget-me” flower, the day-lily. In other words, 忘れ草, which Blyth translated as “forget-me-not”, is a completely different flower, Hemerocallis fulva. Shokyū-ni (1714—1781) probably wasn’t even aware of the European forget-me-not, Myosotis sylvatica. According to Wiktionary, the word 忘れな草 (wasurenagusa), a calque of English forget-me-not, was first attested in 1913. So it seems that, for the benefit of English readers, Blyth radically changed the meaning of the haiku. It really should be The “forget-me” flower is blooming; But the things of long ago, — How can I forget them? This makes much more sense.

明 | míng

In Mandarin Chinese, 明 (Pinyin: míng 🔊) is a word of many meanings. As an adjective, it stands for “bright”, “brilliant”, “light”, “clear”, “transparent”, “apparent”, “open”, “acute”, “sharp”, “keen”, “intelligent”, “perceptive” and, less obviously, “next” or “following”. As a noun, it can mean “vision”, “sight” or “light”, as well as “tomorrow”. As a verb, it can mean “to understand”, “to know”, “to make known” or “to show”. As you can clearly see, these many senses are related and linked to the concept of light. Also, 明 may refer to the Ming dynasty, 明朝 (1368—1644), also referred to as “Great Ming”, 大明 (Dàmíng).

Does the character 明 look familiar to you? Of course it does: it’s a combination of our old friends 日 “sun” and 月 “moon”. According to Wiktionary, 明 could be interpreted as “the sun just rising and the moon not yet set — dawn” or, alternatively, as “two bright celestial bodies — bright”. Lawrence J. Howell writes in his Etymological Dictionary of Han/Chinese Characters:

Originally, 月 moon + 向 (ventilation hole) → bright moonlight streaming through an open window, and manifesting the hidden → brightness; light. Extended meanings from the idea of the light of dawn (signaling the end of one day and the start of the next) include spend/pass (the night); be visible; the next/following (day/week/year); begin; end; and dawn. Disclose and confide are extended senses of “open” (open up to), as are clarity; evident and obvious. Be conversant with is via the idea of illumination, here with respect to a particular subject matter.

Elsewhere, Howell consistently refers to 明 as “manifest the hidden”.

Compounds of 明 include

• 明 + 明 = 明明 (míngmíng 🔊): obviously, plainly, clearly
• 明 + 白 = 明白 (míngbai, míngbái): clear, obvious, evident; open, explicit, frank; sensible, reasonable
• 明 + 人 = 明人 (míngrén): honest and upright person
• 明 + 天 = 明天 (míngtiān 🔊): tomorrow; near future
• 天 + 明 = 天明 (tiānmíng): to break (of dawn)
• 明 + 星 = 明星 (míngxīng 🔊): celebrity, star
• 明 + 日 = 明日 (míngrì): tomorrow; (literary, figurative) future
• 明 + 月 = 明月 (míngyuè): bright moon; next month
• 月 + 明 = 月明 (yuèmíng): moonlight

It’s haiku time!

木をつみて 夜の明やすき 小窓かな 子規 ki o tsumite yo no akeyasuki komado kana the tree cut, dawn breaks early at my little window Shiki (Translated by Janine Beichman)

窓明て 蝶を見送る 野原哉 一茶 mado akete chō wo mi-okuru no hara kana opening the window I see the butterfly off... into the field Issa (Translated by David G. Lanoue)

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他 | tā

In Mandarin Chinese, 他 (Pinyin: tā 🔊) is a personal pronoun “he” or “him”. It also can mean “other” or “another”.

According to Wiktionary, this character is a phono-semantic compound of semantic 亻, a radical form of 人 “person”, and phonetic 也 (yě 🔊, which, however, sounds nothing like tā). Lawrence J. Howell writes in his Etymological Dictionary of Han/Chinese Characters that 他 is

a variant form of 佗, and thus the meanings another person → other; separate.

他 did not become gender-specific until 20^th century:

Originally gender-neutral before the 1910s, when modern 她 (tā, “she; her”) was coined; now usually refers to males (also occasionally refers to females).

他 is used in many compounds in the meaning “other”/“another”:

他 + 人 = 他人 (tārén): other people; others 他 + 日 = 他日 (tārì): another day 他 + 国 = 他国 (tāguó): foreign country 他 + 心 = 他心 (tāxīn): ulterior motives

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东 | dōng

In Mandarin Chinese, 东 (Pinyin: dōng 🔊) means “east”; also, “landlord”, “owner” or “host”.

Interesting expressions containing 东 include

• 东 + 风 = 东风 (dōngfēng): east winds (that blow in spring); figuratively, favourable situation, momentum or driving force
• 马 + 耳 + 东风 = 马耳东风 (mǎ ěr dōngfēng): not the least bit concerned. It comes from a poem by Li Bai:

  世人闻此皆掉头，
  有如东风射马耳。
  (Shìrén wén cǐ jiē diàotóu,
  yǒu rú dōngfēng shè mǎ ěr)
  “When the people of this world hear this, all shake their heads,
  As if the east wind shot through the horse’s ear.”

• 东 ... 西 ... : “east ... west ...” a common construction implying some sort of movement from side to side, for example:
  • 东一句西一句 (dōng yījù xī yījù): speak without any sense of coherence
  • 东倒西歪 (dōng dǎo xī wāi): walk unsteadily
  • 东逃西窜: (dōng táo xī cuàn): to scurry from place to place, especially when being chased
  • 东观西望: (dōng guān xī wàng): to look around in observation

东 is a simplified form of the traditional character 東. According to Wiktionary, 東

originally represented a bag tied at both ends (like a cellophane-wrapped candy with the ends twisted), and was later borrowed phonetically to mean “east”. This borrowing may have been influenced by reinterpreting the character as the sun (日) rising behind a tree (木), which is the traditional (though incorrect) etymology, as given in Shuowen.

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

A depiction of a sack bound on two ends, with a stick run through it. East is either a borrowed meaning or an extended one, in the sense of the direction of the rising sun (the rays of which figuratively pierce the earth) → (in historical usage) eastern Japan.

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春 | chūn

In Mandarin Chinese, 春 (Pinyin: chūn 🔊) is a noun that means “spring season” as well as “vitality”, “energy”, “life”, “lust”, “passion”, “sexual desire” — many things that are associated with springtime. Some interesting compound words of 春 include

• 春 + 节 = 春节 (chūnjié): “Spring Festival” (Chinese New Year)
• 小 + 春 = 小春 (xiǎochūn): literally, “little spring” but in fact early autumn, Indian summer
• 春 + 风 = 春风 (chūnfēng): literally, “spring breeze” but also figuratively “favour”, “grace”, “education”, “teaching”, “guidance” and, you may have guessed, “lovemaking”

春 is a phono-semantic compound of semantic 日 “sun”, semantic 艸 “grass” and phonetic 屯 (tún). In some historical forms of this character one can clearly see all three components. According to Wiktionary,

The character 春 itself is probably a variant of 屯 as they are equivalent for the meaning “spring” in Old Chinese literature.

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阳 | yáng

In Mandarin Chinese, 阳 (Pinyin: yáng 🔊) is an adjective meaning “open”, “overt”, “protruding”, “positive” or a noun for “the sun”, “light” and, would you believe it, “male genitals”. All these meanings are related to Yang, “a principle in Chinese and related East Asian philosophies associated with bright, hot, masculine, etc. elements of the natural world”. According to Wikipedia,

Yang, by contrast <with Yin>, is fast, hard, solid, focused, hot, dry, and active; and is associated with fire, sky, the sun, masculinity and daytime.

阳 is a simplified form of the traditional character 陽, which is a combination of radicals 阝 (a simplification of 阜, “hill” or “mound”) and 昜 (“sunshine”, which has the same pronunciation as the whole 陽), thus translated as “sunny side of a hill”. The 昜 got simplified to one aspect of Yang, 日 “the sun”.

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白 | bái

In Mandarin Chinese, 白 (Pinyin: bái 🔊) means “white”, “clear”, “pure”, “bright” and a number of other meanings which at some point probably were related to colour white: “spoken language”, “free of charge”, “in vain” or “funeral”.

Does it look and sound familiar? This is because we’ve already came across 百 (bǎi), “hundred”. You may also recall that the shape of 百 is a combination of 一 and 白.

While 白 looks like a modification of 日, “sun” or “day”, Uncle Hanzi links 白 with the moon. However, Wiktionary says its original meaning was “acorn”:

The character acquired its current meaning of white from the color of the acorn’s flesh. The original meaning has been lost.

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星 | xīng

In Mandarin Chinese, 星 (Pinyin: xīng 🔊) means “star”, broadly speaking: it could be any heavenly body, celebrity, or a star shape. “Star” in a purely astronomical sense is 星星 (xīngxing) — not to be confused with 行星 (xíngxīng), “planet”.

You’d think that the Chinese could have chosen something like ★ to represent a star, but no. The original form of 星 was 曐, which is made of 晶 (jīng) “sparkling” on top of now-familiar 生 (shēng) “to give birth”, “to grow”, etc. In its turn, 晶 consists of three radicals 日 (rì), “sun”. In 星, only one sun is left, but you get the picture. Many historical forms of this character look surprisingly similar to the Western astrological or astronomical symbols.

According to Wǔ Xíng, the five elements correspond to the five visible planets (and vice versa) as follows:

• 水 + 星 = 水星 (Shuǐxīng) “water star” = Mercury
• 金 + 星 = 金星 (Jīnxīng) “metal star” = Venus
• 火 + 星 = 火星 (Huǒxīng) “fire star” = Mars
• 木 + 星 = 木星 (Mùxīng) “wood star” = Jupiter
• 土 + 星 = 土星 (Tǔxīng) “earth star” = Saturn

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生 | shēng

In Mandarin Chinese, 生 (Pinyin: shēng 🔊) is a word with many meanings. It could be a verb meaning “to live”, “to grow”, “to give birth” or “to light”, as in 生火 (shēnghuǒ, “to light a fire”); a noun meaning “life”, “living thing” or “student”; an adjective “fresh”, “innate”, “live”, “natural”, “raw”, “unfamiliar”, “uncultivated”, “unripe”; or an adverb “very”. Combining 出 “to go out” with 生, we get 出生 (chūshēng 🔊), “to be born” or “birth”. A combination of 生 and 日 “day” is a word for birthday: 生日 (shēngrì 🔊).

生 may look like 王 (wáng) with an extra stroke, but the origin of this character is very different: 屮 (“bud”) + 土 “earth” = “a sprout coming out of the ground”, i.e. birth, growth etc.

More photos related to buds, shoots, sprouts and sea glass @ Shutterstock.

☉ | Sun

The circled dot ☉ is an ancient symbol representing the Sun. Note the similarity between ☉ and Chinese 日 (rì).

In alchemical tradition, seven metals were associated with the seven classical planets, which included the Sun and the Moon (but not Earth). The Sun’s metal was gold. In Hellenistic astrology, each classical planet had its own day of the week. Sól or Sunna was the name of the Sun goddess in Germanic mythology. English and other Germanic languages keep the association of Sun and Sunday. Other solar deities include goddesses Amaterasu, Grian, Marici, Saulė, Sulis and Xihe as well as gods Amun, Apollo, Helios, Ra, Shamash, Surya, Tonatiuh and Utu; the gender of the Guanche solar deity Magec is unknown.

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日 | rì

In Mandarin Chinese, 日 (Pinyin: rì 🔊) means “Sun”, “daytime” (time between sunrise and sunset), and, by extension, “day” (i.e. twenty-four hours). It is also short for 日本 (Rìběn), “the Sun’s origin”, that is, Japan. Combining 日 and 出, we get 日出 (rìchū 🔊), “sunrise”.

Just like 入 (rù), 日 can be used in a sense “to have sex”. It is not clear how this meaning originated. It could be that some of the historical forms of the character were suggestive of this vital activity. Note the similarity with the Western solar symbol, ☉, which is also the alchemical symbol for gold.

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