设
to set up; to put in place; (math.) given; suppose; if
Closest English meanings
set up·establish·suppose
The Calligrapher — Cài Yōng 蔡邕
Han scholar who perfected clerical script and invented flying-white.
Han calligrapher (133–192), master of clerical script/飞白书 — known for 《熹平石经》/ 飞白书. Han dynasty
Cultural Story
When the First Emperor unified the realm in 221 BCE, he she jun xian, established commanderies and counties, replacing the old feudal lords with appointed officials, a single administrative stroke that shaped China for two millennia. The character she joins words to a gesture of placing; to she was to found, to array, to lay a thing down where it would stand. From the prefecture to the altar, she is the act of making an institution occupy ground.
Common words & phrases
- 设计 design · plan
- 设立 establish · set up · found
- 设备 equipment · facilities · device
- 建设 build · construct · construction
- 假设 hypothesis · suppose · assumption
Read the story behind the character
A studio she ji, designs, a phone; a firm she li, establishes, a branch; a lab buys she bei, equipment; a city jian she, builds, a subway; a scientist proposes a jia she, a hypothesis. The character runs from the emperor's map to the architect's screen, every place a plan is given a body. It names the moment intention becomes arrangement, the quiet decision that something not yet real should now have a place to stand.
Own this character
Purchase delivers the original SVG of this glyph, brushed by Cài Yōng 蔡邕, ready to place on skin, paper, or screen.