480531170

737
L1
証
SHŌ
proof
12 strokes
SHŌNINwitness
RONSHŌdemonstration
SHŌMEIproof
Seal forms (), (). These are late graphs
(Shuowen), the traditional form being . The
traditional form consists of 118 ‘words;
speak’, with 382 (‘climb’) as phonetic with an
associated sense of ‘clarify’, to give ‘clarify with
words, report facts clearly, prove’. The (originally)
separate graph once represented a
near-homophone meaning ‘remonstrate’, but
over time the simpler graph came to be used
in place of , a choice made official in Japan in
1946. OT1968:924-5; AS2007:612; QX2000:313.
We suggest taking the modern form as 118
‘words’ with 43 ‘correct’.
Mnemonic: CORRECT WORDS ARE PROOF
Or: PROOF THAT ONE’S WORDS
ARE CORRECT
738
L3
条
JŌ
clause, item, line
7 strokes
MUJŌKENunconditional
JŌYAKUtreaty, level
JŌREIrules, regulations
Bronze ; seal ; traditional Has 73
‘tree, wood’, and (see 730, originally, ‘remove
dirt’ [Mizukami]) as phonetic with associated
sense taken as ‘small’ (Katō, Yamada) or ‘long
and slender, extended out’ (Mizukami, Ogawa).
Either interpretation gives ‘branch grown out
739
状
JŌ
condition, letter
L3
7 strokes
JŌTAIsituation
GENJŌstatus quo
SHŌTAIJŌwritten invite
Seal ; late graph (Shuowen); traditional
. Has 19 ‘dog’, and (taken originally
as a stand or bed, or boards used in building
(from trunk)’, and the extended sense ‘branch
off, diverge’. Schuessler notes that in Han times
this graph came to be used in an extended
sense as a counter for long slender objects, and
this included many documents which were
written on slender wooden or bamboo strips;
by further extension became a counter for
‘matters, items of business’. MS1995:v1:668-70;
KJ1970:716; KJ1975:278; AS2007:579. Suggest
taking the upper part as ‘crossed legs’.
Mnemonic: ITEM ABOUT SITTING
CROSS-LEGGED UP A TREE
earthen walls) as phonetic with associated
sense ‘shape, appearance’, giving ‘appearance of
a dog’; then generalized to ‘appearance, form,
condition’; then extended to ‘written report on
condition’ thus, ‘document, letter’. KJ1970:434;
MS1995:v2:824-5; YK1976:278-9; OT1968:640.
Suggest taking 丬 as table toppled on edge.
Mnemonic: DOG KNOCKS TABLE
OVER – BOTH NOW IN BAD CONDITION
740
常
JŌ, tsune
usual, always
L3
11 strokes
HIJŌemergency
JŌREIcommon practice
NICHIJŌcommonplace
236 The 185 Fifth Grade Characters
Seal ; late graph (Shuowen). Has 1232
‘cloth’, and 1491 (originally smoke rising
from aperture in roof, now ‘furthermore’) as
phonetic with associated sense ‘long, trailing’
> ‘long piece of cloth’. The sense was generalised
to ‘long’, then used with reference to
time, meaning ‘long (in duration)’, ‘unchanging’.
KJ1970:545; YK1976:280; OT1968:318.
Mnemonic: FURTHERMORE, AS ALWAYS, IT’S
THE USUAL CLOTH