Amazing Chinese Characters (585) Engrave - 刻

 The big shell script of character Engrave is 

The left is character 12th Earthly Branch (Post 582), here means bones, the right is character Knife (Post 61). The character means that using knife engraves something on bone.

The small seal script of character Engrave is

The left is character 12th Earthly Branch, here means bones. The right is character Knife.

The clerical script of character Engrave is

The left is character 12th Earthly Branch, here means bones, the right is Radical Knife.

The Pinyin of the character is Ke4.

Amazing Chinese Characters (584) Skeleton - 骸

The big seal script of character Skeleton is

The left is character Bone (Post 458), the right is character 12th Earthly Branch (Post 582), here is hard part of animal, including bones. Skeleton is the bone of the body.

The small seal script of character Skeleton is

Similar to big seal script on the left part, the right part is the character 12th Earthly Branch, here means bones.

The clerical script of character Skeleton is

The left is character Bone, the right is character 12th Earthly Branch, here means bones.

The pinyin of the character is Hai2.

Amazing Chinese Characters (583) Endocarp - 核

 The big seal script of character Endocarp is

The left is character Wood, here means Tree,  the right is character 12th Earthly Branch (Post 582), which is the hard part of an animal foot like bone, or hooves. Here is endocarp: the hard part inside the fruit.

The small seal script of character Endocarp is

The left is character Wood, the right part is character 12th Earthly Branch, here means hard part. Similar to big seal script.

The clerical script of character Endocarp is

The left is Radical Wood, the right is character 12th Earthly Branch, but changed too much to be any similarity to older script.

The Pinyin of the character is He2.

The meaning of the character means originally Endocarp, right now also means Atom Nuclear. 

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Amazing Chinese Characters (582) 12th earthly branch - 亥

In ancient time, people used "The Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches" to count the years. There are 10 heavenly stems, and 12 earthly branches. The independent combinations of one heavenly stem with one earthly branch are 60, therefore, Chinese years circle once in 60 years. The last earthly branch is the character we are discussing today.

The shell bone script of character for "12th earthly branch" is

which is a little bit similar to character Pig (Post 111), most people think that they are same or similar. I am not sure. 

The shell bone script of character Pig is

They are not much similar in shell bone script. They are similar in later script, I will show you late.

However, the character :12th earthly branch" is similar to an animal, just don't know which animal, may be a virtual (untrue) animal like dragon. 

Some people believe that it is a person. Let us see the shell bone script of Person (Post 37)

not similar ar all. 

Let's bronze script of character Person

Still not similar.

I think that it is an indicative character, the horizontal nail alike on the left just below the top horizontal line is the point where the character wants to emphasize, which is a foot, or trotters, or horseshoe, etc. something very hard.

The 12th earthly branch is the last branch, which means the end of the branches. The foot of animal is the end of a leg, matching the meaning. Also the bone or totters are hard part of the Pig. 

The bronze script of the character is

Similar to shell bone script.

The big seal script of the character is

Similar to older scripts.

The small seal script of the character is

which is totally changed. The top 二 is unknown meaning, the bottom has two character Person alike, the left one has a curve connecting to 二. 

I can only guess that Mr. Li, Si wrongly thought that there are two persons in the big seal script above, and the nail alike is a line suppose to connect the top horizontal line and the curve below. The original pictography has been totally destroyed.

The clerical script of the character is

which is a little bit similar to the small seal script.

The Pinyin of the character is Hai4.

The character is not used right now except in the earthly branches, however, it has a very important part in many compound characters. Understanding it will help you to understand those characters.

Amazing Chinese Characters (581) Draw Out - 抽

 The big seal script of character Draw Out is

The left is character Hand (Post 55), the right is formed by two parts: the top is character Enon and Mortise - 卯 (Post 469), the bottom is character Due To - 由 (Post 164), here means can. The top is a device for drawing out water or liquid in the can (the bottom one) with hand.

The small seal script of character Draw Out is

The left is character Hand, the right is character Due To, the character 卯 on the top is disappeared, which made the meaning to be not as clear as the big seal script.

The clerical script of character Draw Out is

The left is Radical Hand, the right is character Due To. 

The Pinyin of the character is Chou1.

Amazing Chinese Characters (580) Flute - 笛

 The big seal script of character Flute is

The top is character Bamboo (Post 23) or radical Bamboo, they are the same in above. The bottom is character Due to (Post 164), which original means Oil can. Here is a music stone can like the picture below.

The inside of the stone is empty, if you blow the hole, it will make sound, same as flute. However it is difficult to find this kind stone, and the sound is single tone, difficult to make good music. People invented the method of making flute, similar to the stone can, but much more holes and wider range of tones, easier to get, and very cheaper. 

The small seal script of character Flute is

Similar to big seal script.

The clerical script of character Flute is

The top is Radical Bamboo, the bottom is character Due to, here is a can.

The Pinyin of the character is Di2.

Amazing Chinese Characters (579) Oil - 油

 The bronze script of character Oil is

The left is character Water (13), the right is character Due to (Post 164). Due to is an oil can, the Water on the left indicates that inside is oil.

The big seal script of character Oil is

Similar to bronze script.

The small seal script of character Oil is

Similar to big seal script.

The clerical script of character Oil is 

The left is radical Water, the right is character Due to.

The Pinyin of the character is You2.

Amazing Chinese Characters (578) Greedy - 贪（貪）

 The shell bone script of character Greedy is

The top is the lips, and the bottom is the character Shell (Post 194), which was money in the ancient time. Talk money all the time, which is Greedy.

The big seal script of the character Greedy is

The top is the character Present (Post 365), here means lips , and the bottom is the Shell.

The small seal script of the character Greedy is

The top is the character Present, the bottom is the character Shell.

The clerical script of the character Greedy is

Similar to small seal script.

The traditional song typeface of character Greedy is

 Similar to clerical script.

The simplified song typeface of character Greedy is

The bottom character Shell - 貝 is simplified to 贝.

The Pinyin of the character is Tan1.

Amazing Chinese Characters (577) Nag - 念

 The shell bone script of character Nag is

The top is the lips, the bottom is the character Heart (Post 24). The lips speak the heart again and again, Chinese think that the heart is same as the mind, what people thinking. Therefore, speaking what people's thinking is nag. 

The bronze script of character Nag is

The top is character Present (Post 365), the bottom is character Heart (Post 24).

The big seal script of character Nag is

The top is character Present (Post 365), the bottom is character Heart (Post 24).

The small seal script of character Nag is

Similar to small seal script.

The clerical script of character Nag

The top is character Present, the bottom is character Heart.

Right now character 念 is not just the Nag, but Chanting, anytime reading somethings loudly is 念.

The Pinyin of the character is Nian4.