聿 (yù) · writing brush (archaic; the original word for 笔)

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

HSK 2

聿是笔的本字。

Yù shì bǐ de běnzì.

Yù is the original character for the modern brush graph.

HSK 7-9

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.

Radical

Brush Kangxi #129

Compact radical group with a tight semantic field around writing and the orderly conduct it represents. The character 聿 itself is obsolete in everyday Chinese, but its descendants (笔, 书, 律, 建, 肃) cover essential vocabulary. Useful as a hint that a character relates to brushes, drafting, or codified rules.