The Calligrapher — Wáng Duó 王铎

Late-Ming cursive master of monumental, turbulent brushwork.

明末清初 calligrapher (1592–1652), master of cursive script/running script — late-Ming master of wet-ink, falling-and-rising running cursive. late Ming–early Qing

Etymology & Meaning · 字义溯源

2 · The Character: 两

Cultural Story

兩 drew a pair of cowrie strings, the ancient currency counted in doubled units, not one, but the unit of a couple used in accounting. A 論語 line weighs 两端, the two ends of a question. The 說文 calls it a pair. It is the number that means both at once, the count you reach when one is not enough and three is too many.

Where a Western reader can stand: Where a Western reader can stand: 两 means 'two / both / a pair' — a counting word (and a tael weight) — and Wang Duo's monumental flooding-ink running-cursive gives it a heavy, dramatic, doubled presence. Honest caveat: as a tattoo it is just the number two or 'both', quite niche, and is not the romantic 'pair' word (that is 双); the grand script cannot hide that it is essentially '2'.

Common words & phrases

• 两个 two · a couple of
• 两边 both sides · either side
• 两点 two points · two o'clock
• 两年 two years
• 两倍 double · twice
• 两难 dilemma · caught both ways

Read the story behind the character

两个 buns, 两边 of the street, 两点 the lazy hour, 两年 the contract, 两倍 the rent since 2010. 两难 is the choice with no good side, stay or go, tell or hide. The character is the workhorse of small counting, the word for a couple of anything. It still carries the old cowrie sense of paired value: two of something is a unit the tongue reaches for before it reaches for three.