亦 yì as well
also; too
How it came to be
A standing person with a short mark under each arm, pointing at the armpits. It was the word for armpit and was borrowed for also, so the body part had to be rewritten.
How it is used
- Literary 'also, too' - the classical equivalent of 也 - 人云亦云 (rén yún yì yún) to parrot whatever others say.
- Appears in fixed/formal phrases like 亦然, 反之亦然 (fǎnzhī yìrán) and vice versa; not used in ordinary speech, where 也 does the job.