写

Etymology & Components

The Chinese character 写 (xiě) for "to write" is composed of two parts: the radical 聿 (yù) and the phonetic component 舍 (shè). The radical 聿 originally depicted a hand holding a writing brush, symbolizing the act of writing. It is also used in other characters related to writing, such as 书 (shū) for "book" and 文 (wén) for "literature". The phonetic component 舍 (shè) is a simplified form of the character 射 (shè) for "to shoot". This is because the pronunciation of 写 (xiě) is similar to that of 射 (shè). The combination of the radical 聿 and the phonetic component 舍 creates the character 写 (xiě), which represents the idea of "writing" or "depicting".