"Zhe" is a first-class word (commonly used word) in Chinese characters. The oldest form of this word is seal script, which is also found in the Book of Songs Nan Zhou Yao Tao in the pre-Qin period, and also recorded in bamboo slips and silk books of Chu State. The original meaning is burning and moxibustion, and it is extended to burning, scalding and shining.

Etymological evolution:

Etymological evolution

Burning, judging from the glyph of seal script, is fire on the left and container on the right. The form of regular script comes from seal script. After the official reform, the regular script is "Shao", which can be used alone, generally without radicals, not radicals in Shuowen. Now it belongs to the fire department? .

Both sound and form can understand words. The "fire" on the left is next to the shape, which means barbecue with fire; The "spoon" on the right is a sound side, which also means container. The whole glyph looks like something is baked on the fire. "Shuo Wen Huo Bu": "Burn, burn also. From the fire, the sound of a spoon. " The original meaning is burning moxibustion. Later, it extended from burning to scalding, from burning to bright, from clear to different. The original meaning of "burning" also refers to one of the methods of ancient metallurgical casting, which means baking a spoon in a fire to melt the metal. Later, it was extended to mean burning and glowing, such as "burning".