省

The earliest forms in oracle bone script (甲骨文) show a combination of:

目 (eye) – semantic element, meaning “to see, observe.”

生 (saeng, to grow, live) – phonetic element, providing the sound.

Later, during the Small Seal Script (小篆) stage, the 生 element was modified into a 屮+丿 shape, and in clerical script (隸書) it was further transformed into 少 (few), which is retained in the modern standard form.

Thus, the character is a phono-semantic compound that originally conveyed the sense of “looking carefully.”

Semantic range:

- to observe, examine, reflect – 살피다, 반성하다.

- to economize, reduce, omit – 덜다, 줄이다.

- government office, ministry, administrative division – 관청, 부서; also “province” in modern Chinese.

반성(反省) – self-reflection.

성찰(省察) – careful examination, introspection.

생략(省略) – omission.

행정구역으로서의 성(省) – used in names of Chinese provinces (e.g., 산동성 山東省).

Polyphony:

성 (seong) - to observe, reflect; also for government divisions in Korean (e.g., 도(道)·성(省)).

생 (saeng) - to economize, reduce, omit.

When combined horizontally, 目 (eye) and 少 (few) form 眇 (묘, “one-eyed”), a completely different character.