Explore each form from the oldest known stage to today.
The character 彼 originally appeared in bronze inscriptions during the Western Zhou Dynasty. It is composed of 彳 (the radical for walking/movement) and 皮 (which provides phonetic value). In ancient Chinese, 彼 served as a demonstrative pronoun meaning 'that' or 'those,' often used to indicate something distant. Over time, it evolved to also mean 'the other' or 'he/him,' contrasting with 此 (this). The character's structure reflects its conceptual meaning of pointing to something at a distance, much like how one might gesture toward something far away while standing on a path. Arrived in Japan: The character 彼 was likely introduced to Japan during the 5th-6th centuries CE, when the Japanese writing system began incorporating Chinese characters (kanji) through cultural exchange with China and the Korean peninsula. It appears in early Japanese texts like the Man'yōshū (8th century), where it was used both for its meaning and as part of the man'yōgana writing system.