Explore each form from the oldest known stage to today.
The character 吐 evolved from ancient pictographs depicting a mouth (口) expelling something. In Liushutong, L34396 shows the early form with 口 (mouth) combined with a component representing expulsion or emission. This character fundamentally means 'to spit,' 'to vomit,' or 'to emit,' reflecting the action of something coming out from the mouth. Over time, its meaning expanded metaphorically to include 'to express' or 'to utter' (as in speaking), and 'to reveal.' The modern form 吐 clearly maintains the 口 radical on the left, with the right component 土 (earth) possibly serving as a phonetic element while also carrying a sense of something solid being expelled. Arrived in Japan: The character 吐, along with many other kanji, likely arrived in Japan during the early centuries of cultural exchange with China, possibly around the 5th to 6th centuries CE. It was incorporated into the Japanese writing system as part of the mass importation of Chinese characters that occurred during the Asuka and Nara periods, when Japanese scholars and diplomats were actively studying Chinese texts and bringing knowledge back to Japan.