哭

Pictographic compound, later reinterpreted as phono-semantic.

The earliest forms of 哭 appear in oracle bone inscriptions, where the character is drawn as multiple mouths (口口) surrounding or directed toward a large human figure 大 with outstretched limbs.

This depicts many voices crying out together, or a person surrounded by wailing — a fitting pictograph for “crying aloud,” “lamentation,” or “mourning.”

Although Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字) classifies 哭 as a phono-semantic compound, interpreting 吅 as the semantic element (“to cry out”) and 犬 as a reduced form of 獄 (“to accuse, litigate”), modern paleographers consider this incorrect.

There is no palaeographic evidence that 犬 represents 獄, and the oldest forms clearly show mouths + person, not 犬.

Therefore, 哭 is best understood as a genuine pictograph of crying, later standardized into the modern shape.

Over centuries it evolved from a literal picture of communal weeping, to a moral and ritual expression tied to filial piety, mourning, and ethical sincerity in Confucian tradition.

In Korean Sino-compounds, 哭 appears in words related to crying, lamenting, or mourning:

곡성 (哭聲) — sound of crying; wailing

통곡 (痛哭) — to weep bitterly; lament intensely

애곡 (哀哭) — sorrowful weeping

호곡 (號哭) — loud wailing

만곡 (挽哭) — funeral lament, dirge

복곡 (復哭) — repeated ritual weeping in mourning rites

Because crying was a central part of ritual mourning in East Asia, 哭 appears frequently in the Confucian classics:

《儀禮·士喪禮》 (Book of Etiquette, “The Scholar’s Funeral Rites”)

「凡哭，必哀。」

“Whenever one weeps, it must be with genuine sorrow.”

This reflects Confucian emphasis on sincerity in mourning.

《論語·先進》 (Analects 11:9)

冉有、季路侍。子曰：「盍各言爾志？」

季路曰：「願車馬、衣裳與朋友共，敝之而無憾。」

冉有曰：「願無伐善，無施勞。」

子路退，曾子後。曾子曰：「夫子之哭，可得聞與？」

Ran You and Ji Lu were in attendance.

The Master said, “Why not each of you state your aspirations?”

Ji Lu said, “I wish to share my carriages and fine clothes with my friends, and even if they become worn out, I would feel no regret.”

Ran You said, “I wish not to boast of my own goodness, nor to take credit for my own efforts.”

Zi Lu withdrew, and Zengzi entered afterward.

Zengzi said, “May I ask what the Master just sighed about?”

Here 哭 refers to the Master’s manner of lamenting his mother.

Confucian commentators use this passage to explain that 哭 in ritual contexts carried ethical weight—a demonstration of filial piety and sincerity.

In literature, 哭 often marks the moment when emotion breaks through ritual restraint, capturing the deep human universality of sorrow.