[[Characters]] #Characters \ #Society-and-Culture \ #Deities-and-Spirits # 鬼 guǐ ghost; spirit; apparition ## Components [[二 (èr)]] [[冂 (jīong)]] [[丨 (gǔn)]] [[丶 (zhǔ)]] [[乚 (yǐ)]] [[厶 (sī)]] ## Meaning Today, 鬼 still primarily means ghost or spirit. It is also a radical in Chinese characters, and characters derived from 鬼 generally relate to ghosts, spirits, or supernatural phenomena. ## History The character 鬼 (guǐ) is a pictograph. In its earliest forms, such as in Oracle Bone Script and Bronze Script, its shape resembled that of a ghost or spirit. In later scripts like Seal Script and Clerical Script, an additional component 厶 (sī) was added, which originally meant "private," indicating the secretive and hidden nature of spirits. The original meaning of 鬼 refers to the soul or spirit of a person after death. ## Evolution ### Oracular Script ![[鬼 ora.svg]] ### Bronze Script ![[鬼 bronce.svg]] ### Seal Script ![[鬼 sello.svg]] ### Clerical Script ![[鬼 cle.svg]] ### Regular Script ![[鬼 reg.svg]]