元

Originally depicted a person’s head; later evolved into meanings of “chief” and “origin.”

In Oracle Bone Script, it was drawn as 人 (“person”) with an extra horizontal stroke above the head, representing the head itself.

In Bronze Inscriptions, a head-like form remained visible. The idea of “head” extended to mean “chief, leader.”

Another interpretation is that the horizontal stroke signifies “above” (上), hence “the one above people → leader.”

When broken down (파자): 二 above 儿 (“child, person”), though in reality the top “二” represents an old form of 上.

Currency Usage:

Widely used in the Sinosphere to denote currency.

The word yuan (unit of Chinese money) was originally 圓 (“round, circle”), but due to identical pronunciation, 元 became the standard.

Used not only for the Chinese yuan but also for other currencies:

韩元 = Korean won

日元 = Japanese yen

美元 = US dollar

欧元 = Euro

(also Hong Kong dollar, Macao pataca, New Taiwan dollar → 元/圓 depending on context).

• In Japan, used to denote a predecessor in office (similar to “former”), but unlike Korean 전(前), which applies only to the immediate predecessor, 元 can apply to any past holder regardless of order.

• One of the “Four Virtues” (元, 亨, 利, 貞) in the I Ching (Book of Changes).

• In the Thousand Character Classic, 元 is used in the sense “dark/black” (검을 원).

• Historically, during times of name/taboo avoidance (e.g., Northern Song emperor Shenzong, Qing emperor Kangxi), the character 玄 (hyeon, “dark”) could not be used, so 元 was substituted — a practice that continued in certain contexts.

本, 原, 基, 素

radicalno: 10

addcomponents: 儿 +2

strokes: 4

cangjieinput1: 一一山 (MMU)

composition1: ⿱ 一 兀

composition2: ⿱ 二 儿