Learn Chinese Characters 153 止

by Caren Zuo


The first is oracle script, picturing toes of a person, hence it means "toes".We have learned the character "出", (see piectures below) which means that one's stepping out of the threshold of a house. The above part of the character "出" （especially its oracle script） is the same as the oracle script of the character "止".



The character "止" is a radical which has something to do with "toes" when it forms  new combined characters, such as "出，步，足 此"。

Later the character "止" is extended to mean "keep still", which means don't move your feet. This meaning later became prodominant. In dorder to prevent confusion, people create a new character "趾" for the meaning of "toes". Hence the character "止" lost its original use. Today, if you choose the character "止" for the meaning, you will not get a score for a wrong anwer.

Useful Phrases:

停止

止疼