业yè

业

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Simplified · Today

繁体

Traditional Chinese

業 (yè, "profession, enterprise") descends from an ancient pictograph of a music stand — the horizontal bars and supporting legs once held instruments or scrolls in ritual settings. As the concept expanded from craft to career, it became one of Chinese's most prolific radicals, spawning 毕业 (graduate), 商业 (commerce), 工业 (industry), and 创业 (to start a business). The simplified form 業→业 retains the top portion but abandons the elegant frame, trading visual history for stroke economy.

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Shuowen

业 depicts a large wooden board used to cover the opening of a bell or drum stand, as seen in oracle bone script where it appears as a rectangular panel with a crossbar; this board represents a foundation, which later extended to mean occupation, business, or cause. The modern character retains the shape of that board, with horizontal and vertical strokes indicating its edges and support. All characters derived from this root share the idea of a base or foundation.

Pinyin

yè· HSK 1

业yè

Character evolution

Shuowen

Pinyin