Sinograph Addenda · Signs

all

Name	all
Reads	jiē
Means	all, everyone alike
Taught in	14 · All of it

Where it comes from

Two people stand side by side (the pair 比) over a saying-mark, which the received graph writes with the white-sign 白: everyone speaking with one voice — all, without exception. Taught in the all-of-it chapter.

How to remember it

Two figures shoulder to shoulder on top, 白 beneath: everyone lined up saying one plain thing — all.

In the wild

皆知善之為善。jiē zhī shàn zhī wéi shàn"everyone knows the good as good" — and the moment they do, says the Laozi, "not-good" has been invented too; unanimity manufactures its own opposite.

Laozi 2, the second line. urn:nabu:kanripo:KR5c0057:002:1a · license: attribution.