The Calligrapher — Gāo Xián 高闲

Tang monk calligrapher of cursive script, author of the Thousand-Character Classic.

Tang calligrapher (), master of cursive script — known for 《千字文》残卷. Tang dynasty

Cultural Story

烏 is the crow, drawn without the dot of 鳥 because the bird is all black, you cannot see its eye. The 詩經 curses with crows; a 烏鴉 at the eaves was a bad omen, though folk also said it brought news. 烏色 is the deepest black of ink and mourning. The character is the bird that became the color, the eye you cannot find in the dark.

Common words & phrases

• 乌鸦 crow
• 乌黑 jet black
• 乌龟 turtle · tortoise
• 乌云 dark clouds
• 乌木 ebony

Read the story behind the character

乌鸦 is the clever bird that opens nuts on the road; 乌黑 the hair in the shampoo ad. 乌龟 is the slow pet and the insult; 乌云 the storm building over the city. 乌木 is the carved black wood on a scholar's desk. The character names black things with a wing or a shell, the crow, the cloud, the turtle, the ebony, the dark that gathers and the dark that is carved.