The Chinese character, 伍(오), means "five people." It is composed of 亻(인) and 五(오). 亻(인) means "person," and 五(오) means "five," so this character is easy to remember. However, why did the Chinese create a special character to mean "five people," as opposed to some other number of people? I was curious, so I looked it up.
The smallest unit in the armies of Old China was five men, and it seems that when the Chinese would march, they would usually march in ranks of five, which was called an 伍(오). Five ranks would be twenty-five men, which the Chinese called a 行(항). The Korean word for "rank and file" is 항오(行伍).
By the way, the character 行 is pronounced as 행, not 항, when it is used to mean "to walk" or "to do."
오 is not the 오nly one of these. There are also 什 (now used in the mainland as short form for 甚), 仟 (sometimes used by people as the "banking form" of 千, along with 壹, 貳, 參, 肆, ...), and don't forget 仁 (^^).
ReplyDeleteOh, yeah, and 佰 is on that same page.
ReplyDeleteTaemin, thanks for pointing out the other numbers with the character for "person" in front of them. By the way, I found one more, 仇(구).
ReplyDeleteHere is a summary:
仁(인): This character means "kindhearted" or "humane," as two people are when they close to each other.
伍(오): This character means "five people," and was once used to refer to a group of five soldiers.
仇(구): This character means "enemy," for a reason I do not know. It is unrelated, but I did notice that 九(구) means both "nine" and "many."
什(십): This character means "ten people" and was also once used to refer to a group of soldiers. 什長(십장) means "foreman (of workers)" or "the leader of a squad of ten soldiers."
佰(백): This character means "hundred" and can also mean "one hundred people."
仟(천): This character means "thousand," but can also mean "the boss of one thousand people."
By the way,it is interesting that 亻is also found in 億(억), a character that means "one hundred million."
Yep. No 사람 인 변 in 조 or 경.
ReplyDeleteYou know, through all of this, we've missed the one that is still actually used to mean "a number of people," 倆. For the sake of completeness, I guess you also have to throw in 佻, 倞. I don't even know which character they are using for 해...
Hi Taemin,
ReplyDeleteHere are the numbers:
一(일) = 1
十(십) = 10
百(백) = 100
千(천) = 1,000
萬(만) = 10,000
十萬(십만) = 100,000
百萬(백만) = 1,000,000
千萬(천만) = 10,000,000
億(억) = 100,000,000
兆(조) = 1,000,000,000
京(경) = 10,000,000,000
垓(해) = 100,000,000,000
--(자) = 1,000,000,000,000
穰(양) = 10,000,000,000,000
溝(구) = 100,000,000,000,000
澗(간) = 1,000,000,000,000,000
正(정) = 10,000,000,000,000,000
載(재) = 100,000,000,000,000,000
極(극) = 1,000,000,000,000,000,000
恒河沙(항하사) = the grains of sand along the Ganges River.
一(일) = 1
分(분) = 1.0
厘(리) = 10.0
毛(모) = 100.0
絲(사) = 1000.0
忽(홀) = 10000.0
微(미) = 100000.0
纖(섬) = 1000000.0
沙(사) = 10000000.0
塵(진) = 100000000.0
埃(애) = 1000000000.0
渺(묘) = 10000000000.0
漠(막) = 100000000000.0
I am not sure if all of that is correct, but it is based on what I found here.
I just noticed that after 億(억) I started leaving out numbers; that is, 十億(십억), 百億(백억), 千億(천억), 十兆(십조), 百兆(백조), 千兆(천조), etc., so there are a lot of missing zeros.
ReplyDeleteIt is 3 a.m., I cannot sleep, and I am bored.
ReplyDelete一(일) = one
十(십) = ten
百(백) = hundred
千(천) = thousand
萬(만) = ten thousand
十萬(십만) = hundred thousand
百萬(백만) = million
千萬(천만) = ten million
億(억) = hundred million
十億(십억) = billion
百億(백억) = ten billion
千億(천억) = hundred billion
兆(조) = trillion
十兆(십조) = ten trillion
百兆(백조) = hundred trillion
千兆(천조) = quadrillion
京(경) = ten quadrillion
十京(십경) = hundred quadrillion
百京(백경) = quintillion
千京(천경) = ten quintillion
垓(해) = hundred quintillion
十垓(십해) = sextillion
百垓(백해) = ten sextillion
千垓(천해) = hundred sextillion
--(자) = septillion
十-(십자) = ten septillion
百-(백자) = hundred septillion
千-(천자) = octillion
穰(양) = ten octillion
十穰(십양) = hundred octillion
百穰(백양) = nonillion
千穰(천양) = ten nonillion
溝(구) = hundred nonillion
十溝(십구) = decillion
百溝(백구) = ten decillion
千溝(천구) = hundred decillion
澗(간) = undecillion
十澗(십간) = ten undecillion
百澗(백간) = hundred undecillion
천澗(천간) = duodecillion
正(정) = ten duodecillion
十正(십정) = hundred duodecilion
百正(백정) = tredecillion
千正(천정) = ten tredecillion
載(재) = hundred tredecilion
十載(십재) = quattuordecillion
百載(백재) = ten quattuordecillion
千載(천재) = hundred quattuordecillion
極(극) = quindecillion
十極(십극) = ten quindecillion
百極(백극) = hundred quindecillion
千極(천극) = sexdecillion
Here is a link if anyone is still not satisfied or prefers the easier British number system.