The Calligrapher — Wáng Xīzhī 王羲之

The 'Sage of Calligraphy'; his running script has set the standard for 1,700 years.

Eastern Jin calligrapher (303–361), master of running script/cursive script/regular script — the Sage of Calligraphy; his Orchid Pavilion Preface is the most celebrated work in the tradition, and nearly every later master traces lineage to his hand. Eastern Jin dynasty

Etymology & Meaning · 字义溯源

2 · The Character: 每 每 (měi, 3rd tone) did not begin as a function word. The Shuowen Jiezi files it under 屮 (sprouting grass): 「每，艸盛上出也。从屮，母聲」 — 'grass growing thick and pushing upward'. Duan Yucai anchors this in 《左傳·僖公二十八年》, where the carters chant 「原田每每，舍其舊而新是謀」 — 'the plain-field grass grows lush; discard the old and plan the new' — Du Yu glossing it as an army in full flourish. Palaeographers add a caveat: the oracle-bone graph shows a woman in an ornate headdress, so 'abundance' may come from hair-ornament, not grass (verify). From 'abundant, repeated' came today's 每 = each, every, every time. 《詩·小雅·常棣》 has 「每有良朋，況也永歎」, where 每 means 'although'; Wang Xizhi opens a paragraph of 《蘭亭集序》 with 「每覽昔人興感之由」 — 'each time I read why the ancients were moved'. Honest disclosure: to a modern reader a lone 每 is a grammatical particle, close to tattooing the word 'each'. It needs a partner to mean anything.

Cultural Story

每 began as a plant symbol with 母, originally meaning 'lush, abundant' growth; over time it shifted to mean 'each, every one.' The 說文解字 links it to '草盛', flourishing grass. In the 詩經 it could mean 'often' or 'every', and classical prose used 每 to mark regularity across instances rather than a simple count.

Common words & phrases

• 每天 every day · daily
• 每次 every time · each time
• 每人 everyone · each person
• 每年 every year · annually
• 每当 whenever · every time
• 每时每刻 every moment · all the time

Read the story behind the character

每 structures modern routine: 每天 (every day) we check the phone, 每年 (every year) we travel home for Spring Festival, 每次 (every time) the train is late. 每人 (everyone) gets a turn; 每當 (whenever) it rains the street floods. 每時每刻 (every moment) the city keeps moving without pause.