Amazing Chinese Characters (331) Ride - 乘

 The shell bone script of character Ride is

The top is a person, the bottom is Wood, here means tree. The person who is standing on a tree's branches.

The bronze script of the character is

The top is a person who is flying over the tree on the bottom. The two Us in the legs are feet. Why the person is over the tree, not standing on the tree? I don't know. The two big feet may indicate that the person with the tree or something made from wood is moving. I guess that the bottom is a very simple wheel barrow. The person over the tree without touch the tree may mean that the wheel barrow moves very fast, like flying.

The big seal script of the character is

The person is standing on the tree, with the two big feet (two Us). 

The small seal script of the  character is

The person is not very clear now, the feet are crossed with the branches. 

The clerical script of the character is

We still can see 木 (wood), and the feet, but the person is not clear anymore.

The song typeface of the character is

乘

Almost same as the clerical script.

Its pinyin is Cheng4.

There is another character Ride - 骑 (Post 256). The difference between them is that 骑 is only used for riding a horse or other animals, the 乘 is used much widely, i.e. ride a car, fly airplane, drive a boat, or even ride the wind, also including riding animals even though much less likely than 骑 in riding horse.