買

Ideogrammatic compound:

買 = 网 (net) + 貝 (shell money)

网 (그물 망) — originally depicted a net or mesh, implies capturing, obtaining, securing something

貝 (조개 패) — ancient currency, valuables, goods

Thus 買 originally meant:

- “to secure something using valuables”

- “to obtain/capture with money.”

Relationship to 賣 (“to sell”):

買 and 賣 form a semantic opposite pair (“buy/sell”). They share 貝 but developed independently.

Semantic development:

To obtain with valuables

- earliest sense, acquisition through exchange

To buy goods or property

- dominant sense in all East Asian languages

To bribe / to win favor (classical)

買名 (“to buy fame”)

買官 (“to buy official rank”)

買臣 (“bought subject,” metaphorical nickname)

To invest resources

- spending money to gain profit, favor, or advantage

Modern Chinese

买 = to buy, shopping

买卖 (mǎimai) = trade; business

In Korean, 買(매) is used in compounds related to buying, acquisition, investment, commercial transactions, and sometimes bribery.

Buying / acquisition:

購買 (구매) — 사서 얻음; purchase; buy

買入 (매입) — 사들임; to buy in; acquire (assets)

買占 (매점) — 독점적으로 사들임; corner the market; buy up

買得 (매득) — 산 물건; purchased item

Selling–buying pair terms:

買賣 (매매) — 사고팜; trade; buying and selling

買收 (매수) — 사들여 거두어들임; procurement

Bribery / influence:

買通 (매통) — 뇌물로 통함; to bribe; buy someone off

買官 (매관) — 관직을 사서 얻음; purchase of office

買名 (매명) — 명성을 돈으로 삼; to buy reputation

買收人心 (매수인심) — 민심을 돈으로 사다; to buy people’s favor

Real estate / assets:

買受 (매수) — 사들여 소유권을 얻음; acquisition by purchase

買券 (매권) — 매매 계약문서; title deed or purchase certificate

These compounds show the full extension of “purchase” from literal shopping to political or moral contexts.

買 vs 賣:

買 (매) — to buy

賣 (매) — to sell

Their graphical similarity but inverse meaning is why both are ubiquitous in business vocabulary.

In classical literature, 買 often carries unfavorable connotations:

買官 — corruption

買名 — empty pursuit of reputation

買恩 — buying gratitude with gifts

Classical citations:

《史記·淮陰侯列傳》 (Records of the Grand Historian)

「以千金買死士。」

“He used a thousand gold pieces to buy warriors willing to die for him” — 買 = recruit/bribe.

《史記·貨殖列傳》 (Records of the Grand Historian)

「買賣不失時。」

“Buy and sell without missing the proper timing.”

Classical Confucian texts do not commonly use 買 directly, but later commentaries and histories do.

《漢書·食貨志》 (Book of Han)

「民或無所買。」

“The people sometimes had nothing they could purchase.”

《後漢書·梁冀傳》 (Book of the Later Han Dynasty)

「買通中官。」

“He bought influence among the palace eunuchs” — 買 = bribe, to buy someone’s cooperation.

《唐詩·王維·渭城曲》 (Tang Dynasty Poem)

「店家不問客多少，買取樽前一醉眠。」

“The innkeeper asked not how many guests; he bought wine to drink and rest before the jars.”

This shows 買 in literal economic contexts and figurative political ones.