Sinograph Addenda · Signs

see

Name	see
Reads	jiàn [xiàn]
Means	to see; to appear, to visit
Taught in	02 · The verb and its object

Where it comes from

An eye 目 set on running legs — a whole person reduced to the act of looking; the reading is classic. When what is seen does the appearing, the classics read the same graph xiàn, “to show oneself”. Taught in the verb-and-object chapter.

How to remember it

The eye grew legs and went to see for itself.

In the wild

見義不為，無勇也。jiàn yì bù wéi, wú yǒng yě"to see the right thing and not do it is to lack courage" — seeing that obliges

Analects 2.24. urn:nabu:kanripo:KR1h0004:002:25a · license: attribution.