书shū

书

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Simplified · Today

繁体

Traditional Chinese

The traditional form 書 depicts a hand holding a brush, the act of writing made visible in ink and gesture. Its modern simplification to 书 preserves that essential image — a hand reaching toward the mark of civilization. As both verb and noun, it carries the weight of three thousand years of recorded thought, from bamboo strips to digital screens.

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Shuowen

书, meaning 'to write' or 'book', originally depicted a hand holding a brush or stylus in oracle bone script. The radical 聿 (yù) shows a hand gripping a writing tool, while the phonetic component '者' provides the sound. This shape was created to symbolize the act of recording words, later expanding to mean 'book'.

Pinyin

shū· HSK 1

书shū

Character evolution

Shuowen

Pinyin