the old form was 丁 ting a cyclical character, a man, a nail, etc. It means to accomplish, to complete.
Ch'i is composed of four 口 k'ou mouths with 犬 ch'üan dog (line 78) in the middle. It originally meant receptacles for food etc., the mouths of which are represented as guarded by a dog. It also means anything which can be put to some definite use. Confucius said 君子不器 chün tzŭ pu ch'i the superior man is not a thing, i.e. of restricted use; mathematically, he is not a function of one variable but of many.
27. | 人 | 不 | 學 | If a man does not learn, | |
Jen2 | pu1 | hsüeh2 | |||
Man | not | learn |
Jen see line 1.
Pu see line 5.
Hsüeh see line 11.
28. | 不 | 知 | 義 | he cannot know his duty towards his neighbour. | |
Pu1 | chih1 | i4 | |||
Not | know | duty |
Pu see line 5.
Chih is composed of 矢 shih the arrow or bolt in a crossbow as radical and phonetic, and 口 k'ou mouth. It is defined in the Shuo Wên (line 22) as language, the outward expression of inward ideas; but from the earliest times it is found meaning to know, to perceive.
I see line 14. It has here a variant, 理 li eternal principles, found in inferior editions.
29. | 為 | 人 | 子 | He who is the son of a man, | |
Wei2 | jen2 | tzŭ3 | |||
Be | man | child |
Wei see line 24.