矛 máo spear
spear; lance
How it came to be
A lance with the head at the top, a barb off the side and a tassel hanging from the shaft. The tassel is not for show: it kept blood off the grip.
How it is used
- Noun "spear", but in modern Chinese it survives mainly inside 矛盾 (máodùn) "contradiction, conflict" - one of the most common abstract nouns in the language, used for anything from logical contradictions to interpersonal conflicts (他们之间有矛盾 "there's friction between them").
- 矛头 (máotóu) "spearhead" is used figuratively for the target of criticism: 矛头指向... "the criticism is aimed at...".
- 自相矛盾 (zìxiāng-máodùn) "to contradict oneself" is the standard idiom for inconsistency in an argument.