Explore each form from the oldest known stage to today.
The character 耳 depicts a human ear, with its earliest oracle bone script showing a clear side-view profile of the external ear. Over centuries, the pictograph simplified while retaining the distinctive ear shape - the central vertical stroke representing the ear canal, with curves suggesting the auricle. In ancient China, 耳 primarily meant 'ear' but also extended to mean 'ears (as handles)' on vessels and 'listening/hearing.' The character exemplifies how concrete pictographs evolved into abstract symbols while maintaining their core meaning across millennia. Arrived in Japan: The character 耳 arrived in Japan during the 5th-6th centuries CE, along with the broader introduction of Chinese writing system (kanji) through Korean scribes and Buddhist texts. It was adopted into Japanese as 'mimi' for 'ear' and became part of the standard character set used in early Japanese documents like the Kojiki (712 CE) and Manyoshu (8th century).