詩
부수: 言
획수: 13획
詩 has the meanings ‘poetry’, and ‘poem’.
詩 = 言 + 寺
X = semantic + phonetic
• 言 depicts speech organs and represents the meaning ‘speech’.
• 寺 is an abbreviation of 持 (meaning ‘to grasp’), but is used for its sound.
Evolution:
詩 = ’expression through spoken language’ ➔ ’poetry’
言 = 
+ 口
• 
is a distortion of the original form (see below).
• 口 depicts a mouth.
言 was originally 舌 which depicts a tongue. From this comes the meaning ‘speech’.
In 詩 it represents ‘expression through spoken language’.
寺 = 士 + 寸
• 士 depicts an axe-like tool and has the meaning ‘foot soldier’ (soldiers are of low noble rank).
• 寸 depicts ‘a hand’ with a mark below the wrist where the pulse is taken. This represents actions done with the hand. From this comes the meaning ‘to grasp’.
Some scholars suggest 寺 is associated with ‘moving forward’ and thus ‘moving thoughts forward’. In this way, 詩 gets its original meaning of ‘moving thoughts forward through language’.
Mnemonic
Understand that 寺 is comprised of 士 (axe-like tool) and 寸 (a hand with a mark below the wrist where the pulse is taken).
Pretend that 士 is a quill pen. Imagine writing a poem 詩 with a quill in your right hand. Your wrist has a throbbing pulse 寸 which is a manifestation of your inner feelings. This pulse guides the movements of the pen as you move your thoughts forward into beautiful words 言.
Vocab
| 詩 | 시 | poetry, lines of verse |
| 詩人 | 시인 | poet |
| 詩集 | 시집 | poetic works; collection of poems |
| 詩想 | 시상 | poetic concept; poetic ideas |
| 詩形 | 시형 | poetic form; verse |
| 童詩 | 동시 | children’s poetry |
| 名詩 | 명시 | great poem |
| 敍事詩 | 서사시 | epic poem |
| 抒情詩 | 서정시 | lyric poetry |
Other resources
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The Chinese University of Hong Kong (etymology)
Chinese Boost
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JLearn.net
Sakura
The Kanji Map
Sentence Search
Immersion Kit
Vietnamese
Bibliography
Affiliate links help support uK.
— Grant, B.K. (1982). A Guide To Korean Characters: Reading and Writing Hangul and Hanja, [s.v. 1307]. Seoul: Hollym.
— Henshall, K.G. (1998). A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters, [s.v. 291]. Singapore: Tuttle Publishing.
— Outlier Dictionary of Chinese Characters, [s.v. 詩, 言, 口, 寺, 士, 寸].
— Seely, C., Henshall, K.G., & Fan, J. (2016). The Complete Guide to Japanese Kanji: Remembering and Understanding the 2,136 Standard Japanese Characters, [s.v. 307]. Singapore: Tuttle Publishing.