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Zi (pinyin: zi) is a first-class Chinese character (commonly used). This word first appeared in the bronze inscriptions of Shang Dynasty, and its ancient glyph is like giving birth to a child in a house.
The original meaning of "word" refers to having children, which is extended to raising and also to women's engagement. In ancient times, pictographic characters were called "Wen", and the words bred on the basis of pictographic characters were called "Zi". Later collectively referred to as words, and extended to things written in words, such as fonts, calligraphy works, letters, notes and so on. "Zi" also refers to people's aliases, which is generally related to the meaning of the words used in names.
The word "Zi" expresses the meaning of "fertility" with the shape of childbirth in the house and the sound of "Zi", and derives its extended meaning from this original meaning.
For example, Yi Tun said, "A woman's chastity is not a word, only ten years is a word." The mountain scenery of Zhongjing Mountain in Shanhai said, "... it is called yellow thorn and yellow flower circle, but in fact it is like orchid, not a word." Lun Heng Qi Shou Pian says: "A daughter who speaks sparingly gives birth to a few breasts and dies ..." "Toning the child", "Little chef of hippo" and "counting the children" all refer to pregnancy and childbirth.
Derived from the meaning of pregnancy and childbirth, the word "Zi" can also mean nurturing and raising. Book of Zhou Dynasty in Jizhong: "People's words are born of rites and music." It means educating people, and music is its foundation. Book Gao Kang: "A father cannot be ignorant." "Word" means nurturing.
If a woman wants to have children, she must be engaged and married first. Therefore, "word" is extended to engagement and marriage. Words such as "Hou Zi", "Wei Zi" and "herringbone" are common in classical novels and traditional Chinese opera works, and "Zi" refers to a woman's marriage.
As early as the pre-Qin period, the word "Zi" was also used as a symbol to remember words. For example, "Shang Jun Dingfen Book": "If you dare to practice diligently, one more word will increase your losses and you will die." Zi, as a Chinese character, is also the result of the extension of the meaning of Cheng.
What modern people say, whether ancient or modern, is a whole concept, which refers to the symbol system that records language and spreads it to different places. But if we analyze it carefully, there is a difference between words and texts: a unique and indecomposable word is called "Wen" and a word is called "Zi", which is composed of two or more words.
Just like a woman giving birth to a child, "word" comes from "text". In this regard, Xu Shen's Preface to Shuowen clearly pointed out: "At the beginning, Gai Yi was like a pictographic character, so it was called the text. After the shape and sound are beneficial, that is, the word is full of milk. "
Let's put aside the legends written by Cang Xie. As far as the process of writing is concerned, it is practical and correct to have words before words. But in practice, there is no strict distinction between words and characters. In modern Chinese, especially in spoken language, the word "zi" actually includes "Wen"-there is no piece of paper and a word is called "zi".
For example, "write well", "write carefully", "choose words carefully", "choose words carefully", "literally" and "word" and so on, but there is no difference between "word" and "word". When "word" refers to "writing", some extended meanings are derived: or it refers to "word", such as "speaking like a book"; Or "pronunciation", such as "clear pronunciation and mellow voice";