死

Unlike other hanja for death—such as 沒 (몰), 崩 (붕), 逝 (서)—死 specifically referred to the death of common people in the traditional hierarchical system (존비, 尊卑).

Because of this, it was not used for kings, nobles, or respected figures, for whom more honorific terms were reserved.

死 depicts a skeleton (歹) and originally a weeping person (匕), embodying the raw image of death.

It is built on the radical 歹 (“bone” radical). Almost all characters with this radical (except a few like 殊 [다를 수], 殖 [불릴 식], 殘 [남을 잔]) carry negative or grim meanings (e.g., destruction, injury, decay).

In oracle bone script (甲骨文 jiǎgǔwén):

The left side 歹 (뼈 알) depicts a skeleton or bones with bits of flesh still attached.

On the right was originally a person kneeling and weeping by the corpse, marked with 口 (mouth) to show crying out in grief.

Over time:

口 (crying mouth) was dropped,

The kneeling figure simplified into 匕,

Leaving the current form 死.

In hanja culture, the word for “four” (四) is pronounced the same as 死 (“death”) in Chinese, leading to a cultural taboo around the number four (similar to tetraphobia).

In Standard Mandarin Chinese, among all characters pronounced “si,” 死 is the only one with the 3rd tone (sǐ), making its pronunciation distinct and ominous.