480531170

411
L3
平
HEI, BYŌ, taira, hiratai
flat, even, calm
5 strokes
HEIKIcalmness
BYŌDŌequality
hiratepalm of hand
OBI ; bronze . The bottom two strokes of
the OBI form show an aquatic plant. Yamada
suggests the curved shape indicates it has no
roots and is just floating, and takes the three
strokes above as the OBI graph for 38 ‘small’,
to give ‘small floating plant’; at the bronze
stage, the top horizontal stroke was added,
probably for the flat surface of the water. ‘Flat,
even’ is extended usage, and ‘calm’ a further
extended sense. YK1976:443; KJ1970:167;
MS1995:v1:446-7. We suggest taking the graph
as a whole, i.e. as a pictograph, of evenly balanced
scales.
Mnemonic: SCALES ARE FLAT AND EVEN
412
返
HEN, kaesu/ru
return
L3
7 strokes
HENJIreply
HENSAIrepayment
shikaeshiretaliation
413
勉
BEN
strive
L4
10 strokes
BENKYŌstudy
KINBENdiligence
BENGAKUstudy
Seal ; a late graph (Shuowen). Katō and Yamada
take as 78 ‘strength, power’, with 2018
Bronze ; seal . Has 85 ‘go, walk, move’,
and 393 (‘oppose’) as phonetic, here with
associated sense ‘return, reverse’. KJ1970:786-7;
MS1995:v2:1284-5; YK1976:446.
Mnemonic: REVERSE MOVEMENT AND
RETURN
q.v. (originally a woman striving to give birth;
now meaning ‘avoid, escape’) as phonetic with
associated sense ‘be born’. Along the same lines,
Tōdō notes as the original way of writing NJK
‘childbirth’, and includes it in the word-family
‘take out/produce with great effort’. The graph
thus has the meaning ‘make an effort, strive’.
KJ1970:854; YK1976:449; TA1965:739-41.
Mnemonic: STRIVE STRONGLY TO ESCAPE
414
放
HŌ, hanasu/tsu
release, emit
L3
8 strokes
KAIHŌliberation
HŌSHAradiation
tebanasulet go
Bronze . Has (usual right-hand form of
112 ‘hit with a stick’), and left-hand element
with disputed function and meaning. Based
on bronze forms, Mizukami interprets the lefthand
element as 223 (‘direction, person’),
serving as phonetic with associated sense
‘release, spread, extend’. Shirakawa, alternatively,
takes as showing an exposed corpse, and
the whole graph as showing the corpse being
beaten in a ritual to drive out evil spirits. Ogawa
regards what others take as as in error for
41 ‘person’. Whichever analysis is followed,
in broad terms the overall sense is still ‘beat
with a stick and chase away’, leading to other
related meanings such as ‘emit’ and ‘release’.
MS1995:v1:570-71; SS1984:785; OT1968:435;
YK1976:453.
Mnemonic: BEATING A PERSON IS A FORM
OF RELEASE FOR SOME
146 The 200 Third Grade Characters