About
The character "彖" originates from an early pictographic depiction of a boar, with its structure comprising the radical "彑" representing a pig's head above the component "豕" meaning pig. Initially used to denote a type of pig, its meaning later narrowed to refer specifically to the "彖辞", the summary statements that interpret the hexagrams in the I Ching. This semantic shift from a concrete animal to a specialized term in divinatory commentary occurred without significant alteration to its graphical form in standard script.
Etymology Hide
