The three most gruesome characters

  1. 黑 (hēi; black) - represents a permanent tattoo on the face to mark someone as a criminal
    (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Pu…)

  2. 取 (qǔ; take) - represents a hand grabbing an ear cut off a defeated enemy to use as a battle trophy

  3. 央 (yāng; beg) - represents a man inside a torture device called a cangue (木枷) that prevents him from reaching his mouth with his hand, and thus being compelled to beg others to feed him
    (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cangue)

Note that nowadays these are completely normal characters used in context in non-gruesome ways, such as:

  • 那只猫是黑色的。
    That cat is black.

  • 我来取我的自行车。
    I’m here to pick up my bike.

  • 我央你一件事。
    I’d ask a favor of you.



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