衰

Pictograph, later used as a rebus and eventually semantic compound.

Originally, 衰 depicted a cloak or covering made from layers of grass — the primitive straw raincoat (蓑衣, 도롱이) used for protection against rain.

Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字):

「衰，敝也。从衣从衰。」

“衰 means worn out or decayed; composed of the garment radical (衣) and the form of itself (phonetic repetition).”

However, prior to that semantic broadening, 衰 already existed as the graph for a grass-woven garment.

Later, when it was borrowed to express decay, decline, and weakness — the idea of something worn or frayed — a new character 蓑 was created by adding the grass radical (艸) to restore the original meaning of straw raincoat.

Thus:

衰 — originally “straw raincoat” → borrowed meaning “to weaken, to decline.”

蓑 — retains the literal “straw raincoat” meaning.

The semantic evolution of 衰 can be summarized in three main stages:

Pictographic stage: depicting a reed or straw raincloak (도롱이).

Rebus stage: borrowed for wearing down, fraying, or weakening — things becoming “thin” or “tattered.”

Abstract stage: extended metaphorically to decline in strength, fortune, or moral power.

Thus, “衰하다” in Korean preserves both literal (to grow thin or weak) and figurative (to fall into decline) senses.

衰弱 (쇠약) — weakness, feebleness

衰退 (쇠퇴) — decline, deterioration

衰亡 (쇠망) — ruin, downfall

衰老 (쇠로) — aging, senescence

衰世 (쇠세) — a declining age; era of decadence

衰頹 (쇠퇴) — moral or cultural decay

衰運 (쇠운) — declining fortune, waning destiny

衰微 (쇠미) — faintness, diminishing strength

衰變 (쇠변) — degradation, change toward ruin

衰 is often paired with 盛 (성, flourishing) to express the cyclical principle of rise and fall (盛衰) — a fundamental idea in Chinese historiography and cosmology.

「盛極而衰。」 (Huainanzi)

“When flourishing reaches its height, decline follows.”

In Confucian ethics, 衰 symbolizes the loss of virtue and moral vigor — the stage of decay following moral laxity.

「天命靡常，惟德是輔。德衰命替。」 (Book of Documents, 書經)

“Heaven’s Mandate is never constant; virtue alone sustains it. When virtue declines, the mandate falls.”

Here 德衰 (덕쇠) represents the decline of moral virtue — a central political and ethical concept in classical Chinese thought.

In Daoism, it expresses the natural process of return — that every fullness must yield to emptiness.

「物壯則老，是謂不道。不道早已。」 (Laozi, ch. 30)

“When things are at their strongest, they begin to age; this is against the Way, and that which goes against the Way soon perishes.”

In Buddhism, it may refer to the impermanence of physical and spiritual forms — all things grow and decay (生老病死衰).

Symbolic interpretation:

The image of 衰 — a garment woven from withering grass — embodies fragility and decline.

It reflects the philosophical truth that what protects (the coat) also wears down with use — that all strength contains within it the seed of weakening.

In literature, 衰 becomes a poignant metaphor for:

- human aging (人衰)

- waning dynasties (國衰)

- the transience of glory (盛衰無常).

「人生七十古來稀，盛衰無常如朝露。」

“To live seventy years is rare; rise and fall are as fleeting as the morning dew.”

Through centuries of use in philosophy, history, and poetry, it became the antonym of 盛 (flourishing), representing the universal law of impermanence.

From the literal fraying of garments to the metaphoric fading of strength, 衰 stands as one of the most profound symbols of transience in the Chinese written tradition.

Two main historical forms exist:

Center resembling “ᄆ” (the modern standard).

Center resembling “丑”, recorded as 𮕩 in Unicode — an ancient variant form.