About
The character "貔" originated in early Chinese literature as a term for a fierce, leopard-like mythical beast, with its structure combining the semantic radical 豸, indicating an animal, and the phonetic component 比, which guides its pronunciation. Over time, the meaning of "貔" shifted from referring to a specific wild creature to being primarily used in the compound "貔貅", a mythical chimera that initially symbolized martial valor and later acquired auspicious connotations related to wealth and guardianship in Chinese cultural tradition.
Etymology Hide
