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

In early texts 喝 carried the sense of a sharp shout or cry of warning, quite different from today's 'to drink.' Yet the act of drinking it now names is woven through classical life: the rites of the Zhou prescribed how a guest should 飲 at court, the Chu Ci speaks of pouring libations, and Tang poets turned 飲酒 into a philosophy, Li Bai lifting his cup to the moon. The modern reading of 喝 as 'drink' grew from the spoken language, fixing the character to the cup rather than the shout.

Common words & phrases

• 喝水 drink water
• 喝酒 drink alcohol
• 喝茶 drink tea
• 喝汤 drink soup
• 吃喝 eat and drink

Read the story behind the character

At the office a colleague says 喝水 (drink water) and refills her bottle; friends 喝酒 (drink alcohol) at a hotpot dinner, toasting 干杯 again and again. Grandpa 喝茶 (drinks tea) every morning with the newspaper, and a child is told to 喝湯 (drink soup) before the meal turns cold. Whether it is 吃喝 (eat and drink) on a holiday or a quick glass between meetings, 喝 is the verb at every Chinese table.

Why this character belongs on skin

A mouth radical beside the sun — daylight swallowed, one swallow at a time. This is the plain, bodily verb: to drink. Tea in a porcelain cup so hot you cup both hands around the warmth before you dare. Wine passed along a table until the bottle stands empty and everyone is telling the story too loudly. Water at a mountain spring after a hard climb, cold enough to hurt your teeth in the best possible way. The Chan masters shouted a single syllable — the same word — to wake a sleeping student, and the shout worked like a splash of cold water to the face, which may be the point: what we drink and what wakes us are the same necessity. The body is a dependably honest creature; it knows what it needs and asks without apology. Ink the verb where you would raise a glass. Stay thirsty, stay awake, and drink it in while it is offered.