九
九 (jiǔ) — nine (number). A curved stroke marking the highest odd (yang) number. Classical life: 九五之尊 — the throne (the 5th line of hexagram 1); 九 as maximal. Grammar: numeral — also: nine; 9
Closest English meanings
nine·ninth·numerous (archaic)·the highest
The Calligrapher — Ōuyáng Xún 欧阳询
Tang regular-script master whose 'Ouyang style' is a basic learning model.
Tang calligrapher (557–641), master of regular script/running script — Tang codifier of regular script; crisp, architectural strokes you could measure with a ruler. Tang dynasty
Cultural Story
九 was the highest single digit and so the number of fullness, not quite ten, but the reach of counting. 九州 named the nine provinces of the ancient realm, China itself. 九天 was the highest heaven; 九泉 the deepest grave. The 楚辭 climbs 九歌 in nine songs. Nine was the ceiling of the ordinary and the floor of the sacred.
Energy Reading
Fire (火) — as the ultimate yang number
Comparative symbology, not fortune-telling.
Common words & phrases
- 九天 ninth heaven · the sky · the heavens
- 九月 September · ninth month · the ninth month
- 九州 China · the nine provinces · the realm
- 九号 number nine · ninth · the ninth
- 九十 ninety · nine ten · nine tens
- 九泉 underworld · grave · the nether world
Read the story behind the character
九月 is the school's restart; 九号 the bus and the date. 九十 the age nobody expects; 九泉 the underworld in obituaries and ghost stories. 九州 survives as a literary name for the nation; 九天 as the sky in old poems. The number now mostly files the calendar and the queue, but it keeps a faint grandeur, the count that once meant as high and deep as things go.
Own this character
Purchase delivers the original SVG of this glyph, brushed by Ōuyáng Xún 欧阳询, ready to place on skin, paper, or screen.