亢

亢 depicts the outline of the neck and throat veins (頸脈). Because the throat is positioned high and visibly protrudes, the character took on the meaning of height and, by extension, loftiness or exaltation.

Semantic range:

- to be high, elevated;

- to rise upward, soar;

- to act to the utmost, to go to extremes;

- the throat, neck, gullet.

Common in compounds with the sense of “excessive” or “lofty,” e.g.:

亢奮 (항분) — excitement, agitation

亢陽 (항양) — excessive yang energy (in Chinese medicine)

In astronomy, 亢 refers to the 亢宿, one of the twenty-eight lunar mansions.

In Confucian and Daoist texts, 亢 often warns against excess and arrogance. The Doctrine of the Mean (中庸) speaks of balance, and 亢 symbolizes what happens when one “goes too high”—exceeding proper measure, leading to imbalance or downfall. In Daoist cosmology and Chinese medicine, 亢 is used to describe the overrising of yang (陽亢), a state of disharmony in body and spirit.