革 gé leather
leather; animal hide; to reform
How it came to be
A hide pegged out flat to dry: the head at the top, the two sides stretched wide, and the tail at the bottom. It is the skin after the work has been done to it.
用法
- Bound character with two unrelated meaning branches: reform/change (改革 gǎigé "reform," 革命 gémìng "revolution," 变革 biàngé "transformation," 革新 géxīn "innovate") and leather (皮革 pígé "leather").
- 改革 and 革命 are heavyweight words in Chinese political and economic discourse, used for large-scale, historic change rather than everyday small adjustments.