entries → 戲
TSUMUGU · A2 (est.) · 字
character · A2 (est.)
戲 =
ㄒㄧˋ · xì
noun/verb — a play, drama; to play, to sport

字源 FORM — what the parts do

a halberd, a weapon
hū — the tiger's head, top-left of the full graph; 說文 takes the whole left side (虛) as the sounda tiger's striped head over a ritual vessel 豆
A weapon (戈) on the right — the word began as a military maneuver, mock combat. The left side carries the sound: 說文 reads the whole 虛-side as 戲聲, with the tiger's head 虍 hū and a ritual vessel 豆 stacked beneath it, the reading dragged far to xì. From staged combat came staged everything: 戲劇、遊戲、把戲.

故事 STORY — a scene to remember it by

左上一隻虎頭()對著),刀光裡演著一齣戲——假打。
A tiger's head (虍) faces the halberd (戈), the blades flashing through a staged play — mock combat.
字源記憶法
意 · Meanings
(本義)三軍之偏— a military maneuver, mock combat
戲劇、唱戲— a play, drama; to perform opera常用
遊戲、把戲— a game; a trick常用
戲弄— to tease, to make sport of
(本義) original meaning · → ⇒ each arrow = one more step of extension