Sinograph Addenda · Signs

文pattern · wén · pattern, writing; culture, the civil

pattern

Where it comes from

A standing figure, chest marked — the stated account: the oldest graphs draw crossed lines, sometimes a heart, on the body: a tattooed pattern. From “pattern” the word spread to every patterned thing — the grain of wood, the tracks of birds, the stars (天heaven · tiān · sky; Heaven, the ordering power文pattern · wén · pattern, writing; culture, the civil, the sky’s pattern) — and above all to writing, until 文pattern · wén · pattern, writing; culture, the civil meant the whole civil, lettered order of the world. Taught in the belonging-thread chapter.

How to remember it

A figure standing tall with a pattern on its chest — culture worn on the body.

In the wild