Sinograph Addenda · Signs

子child · zǐ · child, son; the Master; a title of respect

child

Where it comes from

An infant: big head, spread arms, legs still swaddled into a single line. The drawing never changed its sense — but in the classical books its greatest work is as a title of respect: the Master. Taught in the master’s chapter, as half of the 子child · zǐ · child, son; the Master; a title of respect曰say · yuē · to say — the quotation-opener of the classical books formula.

How to remember it

A child in swaddling clothes, arms free. The same character ends up as the honorific on the tradition’s greatest teachers — the child becomes the Master.

In the wild