Sinograph Addenda · Signs
people
| Name | people |
|---|---|
| Reads | mín |
| Means | the people, the common folk |
| Taught in | 01 · The sentence without a verb |
Where it comes from
The bronze forms show an eye pierced by an awl — the stated account: a blinded captive, the subjugated mass. The graph’s cruelty faded as the word rose; by the classics, 民 are the people whose welfare measures a ruler, and Mencius will say they weigh more than the lord himself. Taught in the verbless-sentence chapter.
How to remember it
Read the strokes as a seed-tray with one long shoot striking out of it: the people — the growing stock the state lives on.
In the wild
urn:nabu:kanripo:KR1h0004:012:14a · license: attribution.