史 shǐ history
How it came to be
A hand holding up a tally on a shaft: the token a court recorder carried. What that recorder wrote down, year after year, is history.
How it is used
- Bound morpheme 'history' - 历史 (lìshǐ) is the everyday word; 史 alone appears in compounds like 史学 (shǐxué) historiography.
- Also a common surname (Shǐ).
- Note 史无前例 (shǐwúqiánlì) unprecedented - literally 'no precedent in history'.
Characters built with 史
Words with 史
Example sentences
- 我喜欢看关于历史的书。 Wǒ xǐhuan kàn guānyú lìshǐ de shū.I like to read books about history.
- 长城的历史很悠久。 Chángchéng de lìshǐ hěn yōujiǔ.The Great Wall has a very long history.