競

It is structurally a reduplicated ideograph, composed of:

言 (speech) – indicating verbal dispute or argument;

儿 (person, human form) – suggesting people engaged in contention.

The form is repeated twice, symbolizing two people quarreling or disputing with words.

In Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字), 競 is analyzed as a combination of 誩 (to quarrel, argue) and two 人 (persons), reinforcing the sense of contention.

Graphic evolution:

In bronze script (金文) and small seal script (小篆), the top part of 言 often appeared as 䇂 + 口.

In clerical and regular script (隸書, 楷書), the upper element 䇂 simplified in different ways:

normally 亖, producing 言, but in 競, it uniquely simplified into 立.

Because of this irregular change, 競 is classified under the 立 radical rather than 言 radical.

This phenomenon—the substitution of 咅 for 言—is also seen in other characters such as 音 (sound) and 章 (writing, composition).

It remains a core character across East Asian languages in the semantic field of competition and struggle.

경쟁 (競爭) – competition

경기 (競技) – match, contest

경합 (競合) – contention, rivalry

경마 (競馬) – horse racing

Variant forms include 𧫚, considered a regularized variant of 競, and 𨐼, unexpectedly treated as an alternative form of 競 despite appearing close to 誩.