Explore each form from the oldest known stage to today.
The character 四 (four) has an interesting evolution. In ancient oracle bone script, it was originally represented by four horizontal lines (like 亖), literally depicting the number four. However, this was easily confused with the character for three (三). During the Zhou dynasty, the character evolved into its modern form 四, which some scholars believe may have been a borrowing from the character for 'nose' (自) or possibly represented breath emanating from the nose, though this etymology is debated. By the Qin dynasty small seal script, the modern 四 form was standardized, moving away from the literal counting representation to a more distinctive character that has remained largely unchanged for over two millennia. Arrived in Japan: The character 四 arrived in Japan around the 5th century AD, during the period when Chinese writing was introduced to Japan through Korean scholars and Buddhist texts. It became part of the Japanese writing system and is read as 'shi' or 'yon' in modern Japanese.