Explore each form from the oldest known stage to today.
Historical forms are not available yet. The current form is shown as a reference.
The kanji "汚" is a phono-semantic compound character, formed by combining a semantic element with a phonetic one. The semantic component is the "water" radical (氵, sanzui), indicating a concept related to liquid or fluidity. The phonetic component is "于" (u), which primarily served to suggest the pronunciation. The original meaning was not simply "dirty" but more specifically "to become muddy" or "to be polluted with water," depicting the state of clear water being muddied or contaminated. This formation method is standard for the vast majority of Chinese characters. Historically, the character "汚" evolved from ancient forms found on bronze inscriptions and seal scripts. In these early forms, the relationship between the water radical and the "于" component is clearly visible. The character was standardized into its current form during the clerical script (隷書, reisho) transformation in China, which simplified and regularized the brush strokes. This standardized form was then inherited by the kaisho (楷書) script, which is the modern printed style used in Japan today. It arrived in Japan, like most kanji, in waves from around the 5th century AD onwards, transmitted via Korean peninsular scholars and through Buddhist and Confucian texts imported from China. Culturally, the character carries a strong moral connotation beyond physical filth. In both Chinese and Japanese contexts, "汚" is used in words like "汚職" (oshoku, corruption) to denote ethical or spiritual impurity. This reflects a common linguistic pattern where concepts of physical cleanliness are metaphorically extended to the social and moral realms. The focus on water as the source of the impurity in the character's etymology is significant, highlighting how pollution was often visualized as something that defiles a previously pure, clear state.