乎

Our character 乎 today looks related to 于, which we have just learnt, with extra two indicators added. However looking at 乎, we cannot still guess its meaning yet. We will examine its evolution history to gain more ideas if any.

evolution history of 乎

From its Oracle script ,  relating to its current meaning, it is believed that it is a drawing of  coming out of , where  represents air flow or sound, and  represents a music instrument – horn.  Such usage of  can be approved by another Chinese character 号, which we will get into in near future. Below is image of a typical horn used by Chinese:

号角

When it came to Bronze script era –we can see that it is kind of changed to a drawing of  (the airflow or sound) made inside . here should be referring to 于, instead of a horn.

Why then did Chinese ancestors changed the music instrument in 乎 from a horn to a 竽? The meaning of 乎 can probably help to explain. 乎 was used during Oracle Script era to mean originally “making a very load sound“, which was eventually represented by a new character 呼. While 乎 itself is then used as modal particle at the middle or end of a sentence and also it is used to represents a much more gentle sound.

That is all for 乎, it is time to enjoy a Chinese calligraphy with 乎 inside:

顺乎天而应乎人

Now we have learnt all the Chinese characters of the first sentence of 《论语》: 学而时习之，不亦悦乎. Do you understand it now and then is able to translate it into English properly?