Sinograph Addenda · Signs

九nine · jiǔ · nine

nine

Where it comes from

A crooked line with a reaching hook — the stated account reads it as a bent arm, the probable original of “elbow,” borrowed for the ninth digit and kept. As the last of the digits, nine became the classics’ number of utmost height: ninefold heavens, the nine provinces of the world. Taught in the all-of-it chapter.

How to remember it

An arm crooked at the elbow, reaching as high as a digit can go: nine.

In the wild