眞

Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字): States the original meaning was “an immortal transforming and ascending to heaven.” This meaning survives in the word 眞人 (“true person,” often meaning a Taoist immortal).

Structure: 匕, 目, 乚, 八 are combined in a composite form. Shuowen explains that the “八” represents “what an immortal sits upon while ascending to heaven.”

Semantic expansion: As “眞” shifted away from its original meaning, the character 顚 (with 頁 “head”) was created to represent “to topple” or “fall headfirst.”

Phonetic/semantic extension: Characters with 眞 as a phonetic component often carry meanings linked to “corpse” or “genuine,” e.g., 塡 (to fill in) — literally “to bury a body in the soil.”

Some paleographers argue that 眞 and 貞 share the same roots and later diverged.

In oracle bone script, 貞 was associated with divination — 卜 (to divine) + a sacred vessel for ritual offerings.

Early bronze script forms of 眞 used 匕 as a variant of 卜, with a cauldron-like base shape.

Today, 眞 remains widely used in words meaning truth, reality, authenticity (e.g., 眞理 “truth,” 眞實 “reality,” 眞正 “genuine”).

真, 𡙊, 𠤛

radicalno: 109

addcomponents: 目 +5

strokes: 10

cangjieinput1: 心月山金 (PBUC)

composition1: ⿳ 匕 ⿺ 𠃊 目 八