Sinograph Addenda · Signs

middle

Name	middle
Reads	zhōng
Means	middle, center; within
Taught in	01 · The order of strokes

Where it comes from

A stroke planted through the very center of a box — the old forms show a pole or banner set mid-camp, the point everything musters on. Taught in the strokes chapter with the other pointing marks.

How to remember it

Plant the flag dead center. Middle — and later, within: what is at the middle of a thing is inside it.

In the wild

多言數窮，不如守中。duō yán shù qióng, bù rú shǒu zhōng"many words are soon exhausted; better to hold to the middle" — talk runs out, your center does not: the Laozi against wordiness, with 中 as the still point

Laozi 5. urn:nabu:kanripo:KR5c0057:005:1a · license: attribution.