Sinograph Addenda · Signs

使

send

Namesend
Readsshǐ
Meansto send, employ, cause
Taught in12 · Making it happen

Where it comes from

A person 亻 stands beside the officer-with-tally sign — someone is being given the job. To send on a mission, to employ, and in grammar the causer: 使 X do Y, “make X do Y.” An envoy is this character with a title. Taught in the making-it-happen chapter.

How to remember it

A thin person at the left, the official with his tally at the right: hand someone the job and send them — or, in grammar, make them do it.

In the wild

Analects 3.19. urn:nabu:kanripo:KR1h0004:003:20a · license: attribution.