The Presence of Meat and the Shadow of the Moon

A refined ink-and-watercolour illustration on warm paper, soft light, generous empty space. A pale, luminous crescent moon hangs in a vast, misty night sky. Below, a single, weathered hand reaches upward from the soft shadows, fingers gently curling as if grasping at the ethereal moonlight. The composition is minimalist, with generous empty space and soft, bleeding watercolor washes of indigo and grey.
Reflecting the Shuowen Jiezi interpretation, the scene depicts a hand reaching for the moon, symbolizing the concept of possession or existence.

Watch the narrated clip on YouTube · 觀看中文旁白版

The character 有 (yǒu) carries meanings ranging from possessing or having something to the existence of a subject, as well as being pregnant, abundant, or affluent. While tradition often depicts a hand holding a piece of meat to explain this sense of possession, the oracle bone script shows no meat at all.

Modern analysis identifies the character as a phono-semantic compound. It is composed of the phonetic element 又 (OC *ɢʷɯs) and the semantic element 肉 (“meat”). Over time, the hand shape of the phonetic component was abstracted to 𠂇, a form also seen in 右, and the meat component evolved into the form ⺼. This structure suggests a relationship to other forms, such as 侑, which may have been the original form of 有, or 醢, which also uses the phonetic 又.

Ancient sources offer a different perspective. The Shuowen Jiezi erroneously analyzes the character as a phono-semantic compound consisting of the phonetic 又 and the semantic 月 (“moon”). According to this tradition, the character refers to something that should not be possessed. It cites the Spring and Autumn Annals, noting the phrase "There are solar and lunar eclipses" (日月有食之) to explain that eclipses were viewed as inauspicious events—things that should not happen.

In terms of linguistic connections, 有 is possibly Sino-Tibetan, as it is a cognate of the Tibetan ཡོད (yod), meaning "to be; to have." It is also related to the adverbial 又 (OC *ɢʷɯs, "again"), the indefinite 或 (OC *ɡʷɯːɡ, "some; or"), and the causative *侑 (OC *ɢʷɯs, "to offer, to sacrifice").

Explore the full etymology graph of 有 on etymfun.com.

Based on Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0) and the sources listed on etymfun.com; written by a local model and fact-checked statement by statement against them. Illustration generated locally.

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