Definitions

mustache

Etymology phono-semantic

hair

Semantic: Phonetic:

About

The character 髭 is a phono-semantic compound with the upper radical 髟, meaning hair, and the lower phonetic component 此. The hair radical places it in the semantic category of body hair. Specifically, 髭 refers to the mustache, the facial hair above the upper lip, distinguishing it from characters for other facial hair like chin beards or cheek whiskers.

Etymology Hide

Oracle etymology image
Oracle (~1250-1000 BC)
Bronze etymology image
Bronze Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)
Seal etymology image
Seal Shuowen (~100 AD)
Clerical etymology image
Clerical Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
Traditional Modern
Simplified Modern