肆 (sì): unrestrained; wanton; reckless

Meanings

1 unrestrained; wanton; reckless
2 four (banker's anti-fraud numeral)
3 shop; market stall (literary)
4 to display openly; to indulge

Characters

肆

sì

unrestrained; four (formal)

Examples

匪徒横行肆虐，洗劫一座又一座城镇。

Fěitú héngxíng sìnüè, xǐjié yī zuò yòu yī zuò chéngzhèn.

The bandits ran rampant, plundering town after town.

共计肆仟零陆拾元整。

Gòngjì sì qiān líng liù shí yuán zhěng.

Total: four thousand and sixty yuan exactly.

别对他肆意发泄怒火。

Bié duì tā sì yì fāxiè nùhuǒ.

Don't unleash all your anger on him.

Tips

usage

Live compounds in two registers. Modern: 肆虐 (run rampant — typhoons, plagues, locusts), 肆意 (willfully, recklessly), 放肆 (impudent / acting without restraint), 大肆 (on a large scale, esp. propaganda or critique). Banking / contracts: 肆 is the anti-fraud capital form of 四; the literary 'shop' sense survives in 茶肆, 市肆.

memory

Mnemonic: 肆 = 镸 (an old elongated form of 长 'long') + 聿 (a writing brush). 'Stretched out long with a brush' captures the 'unrestrained / displayed openly' feel. The banker-numeral use is a Ming-era convenience.

Components

radical

聿 yù

writing brush

Right 聿 (Kangxi #129, writing brush) — anchors the radical indexing. Same radical drives 肄 (to practice / learn) and 肃 (solemn). The brush + long-extended hint suggests 'wide-open display' — the original 《说文》 gloss is 极陈也 ('to arrange / display fully').

semantic

镸 cháng

long; elongated (archaic form of 长)

Left 镸 — old elongated variant of 长 (long). Contributes the 'stretched out / extended' sense — the visual root of 'unrestrained, sprawling'.