Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word 凶. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word 凶, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say 凶 in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word 凶 you have here. The definition of the word 凶 will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of凶, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
Mostly from Richard Sears' Chinese Etymology site (authorisation), which in turn draws data from various collections of ancient forms of Chinese characters, including:
Pictogram (象形) and/or Ideogram (指事)- with the '凵' component representing a hole in the ground and with the '㐅' component (if an ideogram) indicating the existence of a hole and/or (if a pictogram) representing rock, mud, stone or bamboo in the hole. Alternately, could be derived from the upper component of '㚇'.
Hé nèi xiōng, zé yí qí mín yú hé dōng, yí qí sù yú hé nèi; hé dōng xiōng yì rán.
If the year be bad on the inside of the river, I remove as many of the people as I can to the east of the river, and convey grain to the country in the inside. When the year is bad on the east of the river, I act on the same plan.