HSK Guide

Radical 28private, one’s own; to keep to oneself

(first tone, high and level)

private, one’s own; to keep to oneself

Radical 282 strokes0 characters

Where the shape comes from

An arm curled round to enclose something and keep it back — the Shuowen glosses it as the opposite of 公, what is public. The word survives on its own only inside 私 "private, selfish", but the shape is everywhere: it is the bottom of 去, the head of 能, and it stands in for lost elements in 参 and the simplified 会 and 台.

characters filed under

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