命

Phono-semantic compound:

口 (“mouth, speech”) conveys the act of speaking.

令 (“to order, command”) provides the phonetic element and core sense.

Originally meant “to give orders, to command.” By extension, since a ruler’s command determined the fate of subjects, it came to mean life, fate, or destiny.

Semantic range:

- command, order (명령하다);

- decree, mandate (천명);

- fate, destiny (운명);

- life, existence (생명).

생명 (生命) — life

운명 (運命) — destiny, fate

명령 (命令) — order, command

천명 (天命) — mandate of Heaven

수명 (壽命) — lifespan

혁명 (革命) — revolution

In Confucian thought, 命 is closely tied to 天命 (Mandate of Heaven), the divine legitimacy that grants rulers the right to govern. This concept framed dynastic change in Chinese history: when rulers lost virtue, they were said to lose Heaven’s Mandate, justifying revolution. In a personal sense, 命 reflects both life force and destiny — the boundary between human agency and cosmic order.

In Daoism, 命 is often paired with 性 (nature/essence) in the phrase 性命雙修, meaning the cultivation of both one’s innate nature and one’s allotted life span.