藝

The original form of 藝 was 埶, seen in oracle bone inscriptions, where it depicted a person kneeling with plants or trees held in both hands. This was a compound ideograph meaning “to plant and cultivate.”

In bronze script, the form largely followed the oracle bone style, though new variants appeared with 木 (tree) over 土 (earth) on the left side.

In small seal script (小篆), the left side evolved into 坴, while the right side (person with hands) was simplified into 丮 (“to grasp”). Later this changed into 丸.

Eventually, in clerical script (隸書 lìshū) and regular script (楷書 kǎishū), the form was expanded: 艹 (grass radical) was added at the top, and 云 (yún) at the bottom. These additions reflected 芸 (yún, “to weed, to cultivate”), a character historically interchangeable with 耘. This reinforced the meaning of cultivating plants.

Thus, the earliest meaning of 藝 was “to plant and cultivate,” reflecting the central importance of agriculture in early Chinese society. Over time, the sense broadened to mean “cultivated skills, arts, accomplishments.”

藝 evolved from the concrete sense of cultivating plants into the abstract sense of cultivating human ability—hence art, skill, and talent.

In Korean, 예 (藝) is a highly productive morpheme, appearing in compounds related to art, cultivated ability, and refined skills:

예술 (藝術) – art

기예 (技藝) – skill, craftsmanship

문예 (文藝) – literature and art

연예 (演藝) – performance arts, entertainment

예도 (禮藝) – manners and arts