About
The character 仄 is an ideogram formed by the "cliff" radical 厂, which creates an overhanging boundary, with the character for "person" 人 positioned beneath it at a slant. This visual suggests a person leaning against a slope, giving rise to its core meanings: slanting, oblique, or physically narrow and confined. In classical Chinese phonology and poetry, 仄 specifically classifies syllables as oblique tones, encompassing rising, departing, or entering tones, contrasting with the level tones in traditional poetic meter.
Etymology Hide
