to end
How it’s built
Pictograph of air going into the nose (自). The lines representing breath were later reanalyzed as 心 (heart).
(nose); self; from; since — 自 was the original form of 鼻 (bí; nose).
heart — Used here to represent lines of breath.
Through the ages
Appears in
Characters that use 息 as a component, most common first.
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