尿

Pictographic / ideogrammic compound:

The character depicts a person (尸) leaning forward or sitting, with a stream of liquid (水) flowing downward — symbolizing urination.

In oracle bone inscriptions (甲骨文), 尿 appears as a figure with bent legs and a downward line or droplets representing urine.

By the bronze script (金文) period, the drawing became more abstract, and in seal script (篆書), the upper figure was stylized as 尾 (“tail”) and the lower as 水 (“water”).

Later, in clerical script (隸書) and regular script (楷書), 尾 simplified back to 尸 (“body” or “person”), giving the modern form 尿.

Thus, 尿 evolved from a direct pictograph into a semantic compound, yet still retains its original visual symbolism of bodily excretion.

뇨 (尿) — urine

배뇨 (排尿) — urination

요도 (尿道) — urethra

요실금 (尿失禁) — urinary incontinence

뇨검사 (尿檢査) — urinalysis

The word is used mainly in scientific, medical, and formal contexts, while everyday Korean uses the native term 오줌.

The corresponding Sino-Korean morpheme “뇨” also appears in numerous medical compounds and formal documents.

The Middle Chinese reading was nyæu (奴弔切), from which the Korean 뇨 (nyo) derives.

However, in various Chinese dialects, the word shifted to forms beginning with s- or ʂ-, as in Mandarin suī, believed to originate from an onomatopoeic root imitating the sound of urination — similar to the Korean interjection “쉬”, both tracing back to ancient imitative speech for the act of urinating.

Thus, 尿 is a rare example where ideographic and phonetic imitation coincide — both the shape and sound evoke the same act.

Cultural & historical notes:

In ancient China, bodily functions were not considered indecent but natural and medical, so 尿 appears frequently in early medical texts like the Huangdi Neijing (黃帝內經), describing urine’s role in diagnosing illness through its color, odor, and flow.

Traditional medicine often regarded urine as a diagnostic fluid, and in some folk practices, as a therapeutic substance (e.g., “urine therapy” references in Daoist alchemy, though rare and later discontinued).

In Daoist internal alchemy (內丹術), the control of urine and other bodily fluids symbolized mastery over the body’s vital essence (精氣).

Symbolic interpretation:

While primarily physiological, 尿 also became a symbol of cleansing and release, as the elimination of waste parallels purification.

Its blunt naturalism reflects the unpretentious observation of the human body in early Chinese civilization — where writing served not only for divination and record but also for medicine and anatomy.

「察其尿而知五臟之病。」

“By observing the urine, one may know the state of the five organs.” — Huangdi Neijing (黃帝內經)