聿 (yù): writing brush (archaic; the ori…

Meanings

1 writing brush (archaic; the original word for 笔)
2 (classical particle) used at the start or middle of a clause, roughly 'thereupon'

Characters

聿

yù

writing brush (archaic)

Examples

聿是笔的本字。

Yù shì bǐ de běnzì.

Yù is the original character for the modern brush graph.

无念尔祖，聿修厥德。

Wú niàn ěr zǔ, yù xiū jué dé.

Do not forget your ancestors; cultivate their virtue. (Shijing, Daya)

Tips

history

After the Qin unification 笔 (brush + 竹 bamboo on top) became standard, but 聿 lives on as a Kangxi radical and inside compounds like 律 (statute), 书 (book), 肃 (solemn).

usage

Modern Chinese never writes 聿 alone. As a radical it appears in a small but high-value group: 书 (book), 律 (law), 肆 (wanton / shop), 肃 (solemn) all carry it. The classical particle use survives only in poetry quotation.

Components

pictograph

聿 yù

writing brush

Atomic pictograph: a hand grasping a writing brush, with the bristles pointing down at the bottom. The earliest form for 'brush' in pre-imperial Chinese, before the bamboo cap was added to make 笔. Still appears as a component inside 书, 律, 建, 肃, where it preserves the writing-implement sense.