毒

Phono-semantic compound:

母形: 生 or 艸-based form in early script.

Semantic: 母 element (in early bronze forms, the top component) depicts a herb or medicinal plant — emphasizing a substance taken into the body.

Phonetic: 虫 (“insect, worm”) in some old forms or the bottom radical represents venom or toxicity.

In bronze inscriptions, 毒 showed a plant-like form atop a small container or creature, symbolizing the preparation of potent herbal substances that could both heal and kill.

Thus, 毒 originally meant “strong medicine” — a potent substance.

Over time, as dosage and intent distinguished cure from harm, the meaning narrowed to “poison.”

독 (毒) — poison, venom, or malice

독하다 — “strong, poisonous, or fierce” (both literally and figuratively)

독기 (毒氣) — poisonous vapor; also figuratively, spite or hostility

독종 (毒種) — stubborn or fierce person (“a tough one”)

독설 (毒舌) — sharp tongue, biting words

In modern Korean, 毒 often extends metaphorically to mental or emotional intensity — a “poisonous” temperament or determination (독하게 마음먹다 — “to harden one’s mind with resolve”).

In early Chinese medical texts such as the Shennong Bencao Jing (神農本草經), 毒 referred broadly to any substance with strong physiological effect — not inherently evil, but powerful and potentially dangerous.

Drugs were classified as “有毒” (poisonous) or “無毒” (non-poisonous), depending on their dosage and effects.

Philosophically, 毒 also came to represent moral corruption or malice, as in “惡毒” (wicked and venomous).

In military writings, 毒 sometimes described poisoned weapons or strategic deceit — harm disguised as aid.

By the Tang dynasty, 毒 was firmly established as the standard character for “poison,” distinguishing it from earlier synonyms like 藥 (medicine) or 蠱 (witchcraft poison).

Cultural & symbolic notes:

毒 occupies a paradoxical space in East Asian thought — simultaneously deadly and medicinal.

Traditional healers recognized that “poison can cure poison” (以毒攻毒) — a principle still alive in modern pharmacology and acupuncture.

In literature and art, 毒 is a symbol of:

- Corruption — moral decay or deceit (“독심, poisonous heart”).

- Intensity — fierce passion or determination (“독하게 살다,” to live fiercely).

- Duality — both healer and killer, reflecting the fine line between remedy and ruin.

In Taoist alchemy, controlled ingestion of poisons (arsenic sulfide, cinnabar, etc.) was believed to grant immortality — a fatal irony that reinforced the philosophical tension within the character 毒.

Symbolic interpretation:

毒 represents power without balance — the point at which the beneficial becomes destructive.

It reminds that strength and toxicity share the same root when restraint is lost.

「以毒攻毒，方能治病。」

“Only poison can drive out poison — thus may illness be cured.”

This enduring maxim encapsulates the ancient ambivalence toward 毒:

that destruction, when mastered, may become healing.