出（chū）out, exit - The Evolution of Chinese Character

 In the previous video, we learned that earliest forms of 賣 consisted of 出, 罒 and 貝.

 罒 and 貝 are pictographs that resemble a net and a shell respectively. Then what about 出？Why does 出 mean  “out” or “exit”? In this video, I will share with you the history of 出.

Let’s look at a couple of models of "出".

In regular script, "出" is a one-piece-form, meaning that it cannot be disassembled into separate parts like 賣 can. 

However, in the earliest forms of “出”, it could be divided into two pieces: the upper piece, and the bottom one.

Here is the upper piece. This character is a pictograph. It resembles the shape of a foot sole. The pictogram only has three toes, because ancient Chinese used "three" to mean “many”, so they did not draw all five toes here. This character is written as “止" in Regular script form.

The character 止 is often used such as in “停止” (to stop), “截止”(deadline), “止痛藥”(painkiller) or “止於至善”(to rest in the highest excellence). In these words, "止" means “to stop” or “to reach”. All these meanings are related to the original meaning of “foot”. The imprint of a foot shows where someone “stopped” as well as to how far they’ve “reached”.

Here is the lower piece. It’s also a pictograph, which resembles a hole in the ground. Its Regular script form is written as “凵”. This is why "出" is classified as a "凵" radical in the dictionary. But actually we don't use 凵 as a character alone now. 凵 can be also written as 坎, which we often use today.

Knowing the original meanings of 止 and 凵, we can now understand 出’s meaning! A foot that is coming out of a hole is “out”. It makes sense, right? 

Notice that 出 is a compound ideograph.

Let's learn how to write 出.

First is the middle vertical stroke. The second stroke starts from here. Make a vertical stroke from top to bottom then turn right to make a horizontal stroke. The third stroke is a vertical stroke. The fourth and fifth strokes repeat the previous steps. Notice that the lower 凵 should be a bit wider.

Finally, I would like to share with you a Chinese idiom 流言止於智者 (The rumors stop with the wise). It comes from the famous Confucian scholar Xun Zi during the Warring States period. He was Han Fei's teacher (Do you remember Han Fei from the “pearls and box” story of the last video?) In his writings, he wrote "流丸止於甌臾，流言止於知者". It means that a hole [on the ground] will stop a rolling object, and the wise will stop the gossip. Since unsubstantiated rumors can have serious consequences. Wise people don't spread baseless rumors when they hear them.