字

Phono-semantic compound:

宀 (집 면) – meaning component, representing a house;

子 (아들 자) – sound component, also contributes meaning (child).

Original sense was “to give birth to a child.” By the Han dynasty, 字 was borrowed to mean “written character.”

Over time, it broadened to mean “letter, character” and also carried the sense of “name” — which is why it appears in compounds like 文字 (문자) and terms for style names in classical usage.

Semantic development:

- naming a child — giving identity

- named symbols — characters with fixed forms

- writing system unit — letters / characters

- onomastic use — courtesy name (style name)

字 is a core, high-frequency character across all registers.

Common compounds:

문자 (文字) — written characters; script

한자 (漢字) — Chinese characters

철자 (綴字) — spelling

자형 (字形) — character form

자음 (字音) — pronunciation of a character

Classical / cultural usage:

자호 (字號) — style name and pen name

이름자 (名字) — given name (character-based)

Unlike 文 (writing, culture), 字 focuses on individual units rather than text as a whole.

Cultural & linguistic notes:

In Classical Chinese, 字 commonly referred to a courtesy name given at adulthood (e.g., 자, 字 vs 명, 名).

In Modern Chinese, 字 (zì) is the everyday word for “character”:

写一个字 — write one character

生字 — unfamiliar character

Related characters (writing & names):

文 — writing; script; culture

名 — name

號 — style name; pseudonym

書 — writing; book

詞 — word

Among these, 字 uniquely denotes the atomic unit of written language.