Explore each form from the oldest known stage to today.
The character 危 (wēi) originally depicted a person standing precariously on a high, steep cliff (卩, a kneeling figure, and 厂, a cliff). Its core meaning is 'danger,' 'peril,' or 'to endanger,' perfectly capturing the sense of instability and risk of falling. Over time, its form was standardized in seal script and later in clerical script, evolving into the modern kanji 危, which retains the essence of its ancient warning. Arrived in Japan: The character 危 likely arrived in Japan during the 5th to 6th centuries CE, as part of the large-scale introduction of the Chinese writing system (kanji) through Korean scholars and imported Chinese texts like the Confucian classics.