Amazing Chinese Characters (87) Blade - 刃

The shell bone script for character Blade is

We can see there is a small circle on the side of the knife, the circle is an indicator or pointer to point the blade of the knife. But the circle should be in lower position, why it is so high is unknown.

Let 's compare it with character Knife

no circle.

Its small seal script is

Now it is a short line in the middle of the knife, the short line is the indicator or pointer. In comparison with the real knife, it should be on the bottom side. But we don't know what the ancient knife looks like, it should be different from those we see today.

This kind character is called self-explanatory characters.

Its clerical script is

the dot on the left is the pointer.

Its current standard printing script is 

刃

same as clerical script.

Its Pinyin is "Ren4".