Sinograph Addenda · Signs

事work · shì · affair, work; to serve

work

Where it comes from

A hand gripping a tally-staff — the badge of office held tight. The graph is close kin to the scribe- and officer-signs; what the hand holds is the job. As a noun the affair; toward a person, the serving of them. Taught in the making-it-happen chapter.

How to remember it

The same writing-hand that grips the brush in 書book · shū · to write; writings, document; the Documents, here gripping the tally of office: the job in that hand is the work.

In the wild