占

Formed as a compound ideograph:

卜 (divination, augury) provides the semantic element of fortune-telling and omen-seeking;

口 (mouth) suggests vocalization or declaration.

Together, the character depicts the act of uttering a divinatory result after casting lots or performing augury.

Later, by phonetic borrowing, 占 also came to mean “to claim/occupy”, as the form resembled a flag planted in the ground, symbolizing possession. This borrowed sense is what underlies modern words like “to occupy” or “to take over.”

Semantic range:

- to divine, practice augury, tell fortunes (점치다);

- to state or declare a prediction;

- to occupy, take possession, claim (점령하다, 차지하다);

- prefix in many “점” words (店 shop, 點 dot/point, 粘 stick, etc.).

占卜 (점복) — divination, fortune-telling

占領 (점령) — occupation, seizure

占有 (점유) — possession, ownership

占星術 (점성술) — astrology

預占 (예점) — prediction, premonition

In ancient China, 占 was central to divination practices that shaped early governance and cosmology. Oracle bone inscriptions (甲骨文) from the Shang dynasty used 卜 and 占 for pyromancy and augury, with rulers basing decisions of war, agriculture, and ritual on these divinations.

In Confucian contexts, 占 was associated with interpreting omens in a moral framework, reflecting the harmony (or disharmony) between Heaven (天) and human affairs.

In Daoist and Buddhist thought, 占 later broadened to include astrology and esoteric methods of foretelling destiny, linking human fate with cosmic cycles.

佔, often used in Taiwan/Hong Kong for “occupy,” while 占 is restricted to “divine.”