列Write it with a brush

Origin of the character

The character 列 is thought to have been formed in the oracle-bone script in imitation of stripping the bones of the dead and laying them out in a row. In its early stages the sense of arranging bones or corpses was strong. By the bronze-inscription stage it combined with the knife radical (刀) or the image of cleaning bones, taking on the meanings 'to strip bones' and 'to classify.' In the small seal script the present form of the character was established, and it developed the meaning of laying things out neatly and setting them in order.

How it is built

歹 (death radical) + 刂 (knife radical)

The character 列 can be seen as a combination of 歹 (the death radical) and 刂 (the knife radical). 歹 carries meanings related to bones and death, while 刂 means a knife. Originally it depicted stripping bones with a knife or laying out the bones of the dead in neat order, and from this it developed the sense of 'arranging' or 'aligning' things in a fixed sequence. A similar character, 裂 (to tear), means tearing cloth (衣) with a knife (刀); although both use the knife radical, the overall meaning of the character differs.

In its line

The stars are spread out in their mansions.

Line 4 of 250 in the Thousand Character Classic.

Words with this character

• 列鼎而食열정이식

  Literally "to set out many cauldrons and dine," an idiom likening an extravagant, luxurious life. It depicts the spread of abundant food at a feast or banquet.

• 列土封疆열토봉강

  The king parcels out land to his vassals, enfeoffing them and fixing their boundaries. It denotes the feudal system of distributing territory and conferring the status of a vassal state.

After writing

Confucianism prizes social order and harmony, stressing that all things and people should be arranged in their proper places according to their nature, with clear distinctions of standing and hierarchy. The Book of Rites states, "Ritual divides and apportions in order, and thereby governs the people," underscoring the importance of social alignment and distinction.Confucianism

As you drew each stroke slowly, did a moment from today come to mind?