Pictograph of knife/sword , in compounds usually 刂. QX2000:180; MS1995:v1:122-3.
Mnemonic: TWO-EDGED SWORD
199
L4
冬
TŌ, fuyu
winter
5 strokes
冬眠 TŌMIN hibernation
冬季 TŌKI winter season
冬枯れ fuyugare winter decay
Views vary. OBI ; seal . Mizukami sees persimmons on tree after leaf fall, or food stored hanging. Katō sees seal as 冫 401‘ice’, and 夂 as phonetic with associated sense ‘freeze’ > ‘ice’. Shirakawa takes OBI form as tied rope ends, to denote ‘end’ > ‘end season’, i.e. ‘winter’. MS1995:v1:116-7; KJ1970:120; SS1984:641. Take 夂 as ‘cross-legged’.
Mnemonic: CROSSED LEGS SLIPPING ON WINTER ICE
200
L3
当
TŌ, ataru/teru
apply, hit mark, appropriate, this
6 strokes
相当 SŌTŌ appropriate
当人 TŌNIN person concerned
手当て teate allowance, treatment
Bronze ; seal ; traditional 當. Has 田 63 ‘field’, and 尚 1491 (‘furthermore’) as phonetic with associated sense ‘value, price, equivalent price’ (Mizukami, Katō). (In Late Han times, pronunciation of 當 and 尚 was fairly close.) Originally referred to offering a field as a pledge. Tōdō has this graph in a word-family meaning ‘push one thing against another, make to correspond’. MS1995:v2:884-5; KJ1970:669-70; AS2007:206, 181; TA1965:351-2.
We suggest taking upper element of modern form as ‘little’ 小 38 and ヨ as ‘hand’.
Mnemonic: THIS LITTLE HAND APPROPRIATELY HITS THE MARK
201
L5
東
TŌ, higashi, azuma
east
8 strokes
東洋 TŌYŌ Orient
東側 higashigawa east side
東屋 azumaya arbor, bower
OBI forms show a bottomless bag with both ends tied ; the bag has a pole going vertically through the center, which explains the word-family sense ‘penetrate’, noted by Mizukami and Tōdō. Used as a loan graph for ‘east’. See also ‘bundle’ 束 561 and ‘knead’ 練 438. MS1995:v1:654; KJ1970:1956-7; MR2007:340; TA1965:286-7. We suggest taking the modern form as ‘sun’ 日 66 rising behind a ‘tree’ 木 73.
Mnemonic: SUN RISING BEHIND TREE INDICATES EAST
202
L4
答
TŌ, kotaeru
answer
12 strokes
解答 KAITŌ solution
答案 TŌAN exam paper
口答え kuchigotae retort
A late graph (post-Shuowen). 合 134 ‘meet, join’ was used by itself in OBI and bronze texts for a) ‘respond’ and also for b) ‘fit together, join’, but later 竹/ 58 (‘bamboo’) was added so as to denote the sense ‘respond, answer’ to disambiguate. KJ1970:668-9; AS2007:202, 625, 274; MS1995:v1:212-3; SS1984:649.
Mnemonic: BAMBOO IS A FITTING ANSWER
203
L4
頭
TŌ, ZU, atama, kashira
head, top, start
16 strokes
頭骨 TŌKOTSU skull
頭痛 ZUTSŪ headache
頭金 atamaKIN down payment
As seen in the bronze form , this has 頁 103 ‘head’, and 豆 379 ‘(upright vessel’, now ‘bean’) as phonetic with associated meaning ‘stand upright’ and probably also ‘vessel’. Like 首 155 (‘head’), also has extended senses of ‘beginning; first in rank’. Note: The bronze form here is in the decorative elongated ‘bird script’. MS1995:v2:1446-7; KJ1970:734; TA1965:281-3; QX2000:275; KJ1985:573,663.
