丁

A pictograph of a nail:

Oracle bone script (甲骨文): small square / dot-like mark

Bronze inscriptions (金文: reduced to a point

Clerical & regular script: stabilized as 丁

The traditional gloss “고무래 정” is incorrect. Modern lexicography (e.g. 한자대사전, Chinese Character Dictionary) explicitly rejects this interpretation.

The meaning “nail” later split off into 釘 (金 + 丁), while 丁 developed abstract and social meanings.

Semantic development:

- Concrete object — nail

- Human category — adult male liable for labor and military service

- Cosmological symbol — fourth of the Ten Heavenly Stems (十天干)

Thus 丁 becomes a key sociopolitical unit in premodern East Asia.

남정 (男丁) — adult male population

백정 (白丁) — commoner; non-elite male (historical)

병정 (兵丁) — soldier

솔정 (率丁) — conscripted manpower

장정 (壯丁) — able-bodied man

정녕 (丁寧) — careful; courteous (semantic extension)

In population or labor contexts, 丁 excludes women and children — it specifically denotes tax- and service-bearing adult males.

丁 in the Heavenly Stems (十天干):

Position: 4th stem

Yin–Yang: Yin Fire (陰火)

Associated imagery:

- small flame

- candlelight

- lamp

- star, moon

Color:

- red

- pink

丁 in the Sexagenary Cycle (干支):

정축 (丁丑) — 澗下水 (간하수) — deep valley water; spring water

정묘 (丁卯) — 爐中火 (노중화) — fire in the furnace; sustaining warmth

정사 (丁巳) — 沙中土 (사중토) — sand-mixed earth

정미 (丁未) — 天河水 (천하수) — celestial river; starlight rather than literal water

정유 (丁酉) — 山下火 (산하화) — fire below the mountain; sunset glow

정해 (丁亥) — 屋上土 (옥상토) — roof-top earth; enclosing structure

Social & administrative:

戶 — household

民 — people

兵 — soldiers

釘 — nail (metallic specialization)

町 — town block (via nail/marker concept)

頂 — summit; top