About
The character 彘 is a classical noun meaning "pig" or "swine". Structurally, it is an ideogram originally depicting a wild boar: the upper component 彑 represents the animal's snout, while the lower elements resemble its bristles and legs. In ancient texts, 彘 was the standard term for pigs, appearing in agricultural, sacrificial, and philosophical contexts, for instance, in the famous story where Zengzi slaughtered a pig to teach his child about honesty. Over time, the character was largely replaced in everyday speech by the more common 猪 (zhū), making 彘 a formal, archaic, or literary term in modern usage. Its visual complexity directly reflects the physical traits of the animal it signifies, without relying on phonetic radicals.
Etymology Hide
