Category: Chinese Grammar

雷 léi Origin: 甲骨文“雷”字中间的曲线是打雷时伴随着的闪电，用圆形表示雷的响声，后人又在上面加上“雨”字表示雷多在雨天出现。
On oracle bone inscriptions, the character “雷” has a curve in the middle representing lightning, while the exterior circle signifies thunder. Later, the character “雨” (rain) was added, as thunder often appears on rainy days.

启（qǐ）
Origin: 甲骨文的“启”是一只手把一扇门打开，本义是“开”，后来引申为“开始”“开导”“陈述”等意思。
As it appears on oracle bone inscriptions, “启” looks like a hand opening a door, so its original meaning was to open. Later, that definition expanded to include concepts of to start, to enlighten, and to state.

鹿（lù） Origin: “鹿”是个象形字，甲骨文的“鹿”有鹿角，鹿的大眼睛，尖尖的嘴和鹿的身子，并且这只鹿是在奔跑的状态。
“鹿” is a pictograph, and on oracle bone inscriptions is made of antlers, big eyes, a nose and body. It resembles a running deer.

分 fēn Origin: 甲骨文中，“分”的外面是个“八”字，当中是一把“刀”，意思是用刀把一个东西切开，所以“分”的本义是“分开”，后来“分”也有“散” “离” “区别”的意思。
On oracle bone inscriptions, the character “分” has two parts: a “八” on the outside and a “刀” (knife) on the inside, meaning to cut something with a knife, so “分” came to mean “to separate.” That later expanded to concepts like scattering, departing, and distinguishing.

赤（chì） Origin: “赤”字原来由“大”、“火”二字组成，因为火是红色的，所以“赤”的本义是“红色”，“赤”也有“无”“纯净”“裸露”的意思。
“赤” is composed of two characters: “大” (large) and “火” (fire). Because fire is red, that was the original meaning of “赤.” Today, it can also mean nothingness, purity, and nakedness.

凡（fán） Origin:
这是最早的“盘”字，像一个盘子的形状，后来本义不存在了，多用于“大都”、“凡是、概括”的意思，又引申为“平常”、“平凡”。
This is the earliest form of the character “盘” (plate), as it resembles the shape of a plate. Over time, it lost this meaning, and now means mostly, all, as well as normal and ordinary.

云（yún）cloud Origin: 古文“云”，字形像漂浮在空中的云朵，上有云层，下有缭绕的云团。“云”字由于后来借为“说”义，为了区别，在“云”上加了“雨”，表示本义云彩，简体字又恢复为“云”。 The ancient character of “云” resembled cloud in the air with cloud layer above and cloud cluster below. Later,“云” was expressed by the meaning of “say”, so the character of “雨”, which was used to distinguish the meanings, was added on the upper part of “云”to express the original meaning “cloud”. Now “云” is still used to be a simplified character.