About
The character "骘" is structurally composed of the semantic component "马", meaning horse, and the phonetic component "陟", which provides its pronunciation, with its earliest known usage referring specifically to a male horse. Over time, its meaning extended beyond equine terminology to encompass abstract functions such as arranging, settling, or judging, as observed in the compound "评骘" denoting evaluation. In classical literary and philosophical contexts, it became entrenched in the expression "阴骘", which signifies hidden virtue or cosmic determination, reflecting a semantic evolution from a concrete referent to an abstract moral concept.
Etymology Hide
