兆
부수: 儿
획수: 6획
兆 has the meanings ‘omen’, ‘sign’ and ‘trillion’.
兆 = 兆
X = borrowing
• 兆 depicts cracks appearing on a heated turtle shell from divination rituals.
兆 originally depicted two people fleeing a flood. It later morphed to depict cracks appearing on a heated turtle shell from divination rituals. Shang rulers believed the cracks that formed would predict future events. From this comes the meanings ‘omen’ and ‘sign’. The meaning of ‘trillion’ results from loan usage.
Evolution:
兆 = ’to escape’ ➔ borrowed use ➔ ’cracks in a turtle shell’ ➔ ’omen’
兆 = ’to escape’ ➔ borrowed use ➔ ’million/trillion’
Mnemonic
While 兆 is not actually comprised of 儿 (standing person), it can make a good mnemonic. Imagine 儿 represents one of the TMNT. With a little bit of imagination, you can see how the vertically symmetrical shape of 兆 looks like a turtle shell pattern. Imagine Leonardo saying “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” as the TMNT sense themselves walking into a trap.
Vocab
| 徵兆 | 징조 | indication; omen, sign |
| 兆朕 | 조짐 | omen, sign; indication |
| 前兆 | 전조 | omen, sign; prelude to |
| 億兆 | 억조 | a hundred million and a trillion; myriads |
| 凶兆 | 흉조 | bad sign; ominous sign |
| 亡兆 | 망조 | sign of foreboding |
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Bibliography
Affiliate links help support uK.
— Grant, B.K. (1982). A Guide To Korean Characters: Reading and Writing Hangul and Hanja, [s.v. 209]. Seoul: Hollym.
— Henshall, K.G. (1998). A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters, [s.v. 939]. Singapore: Tuttle Publishing.
— Outlier Dictionary of Chinese Characters, [s.v. 兆].
— 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. 573]. Singapore: Tuttle Publishing.