Sinograph Addenda · Signs

謂say-of · wèi · to say of, call, mean

say-of

Where it comes from

Speech 言speech · yán · speech, words; to speak on the left; the right half only lends its sound. Where 曰say · yuē · to say — the quotation-opener of the classical books opens a quotation, 謂say-of · wèi · to say of, call, mean points at a thing and names it: X 謂say-of · wèi · to say of, call, mean Y, “X calls it Y” — the classics’ verb for defining, judging, and meaning. Taught in the one-who chapter.

How to remember it

言speech · yán · speech, words; to speak speech at the left aims the words; the right half only lends the sound wèi. Speech pointed at its object: say-of — to call a thing something.

In the wild