The Calligrapher — Wáng Dǎo 王导

Eastern Jin statesman and calligrapher of running script, uncle of Wang Xizhi.

Eastern Jin calligrapher (), master of running script — known for 琅琊王氏之祖. Eastern Jin dynasty

Cultural Story

伴 is 人 with 半, the half that makes a whole with another, the companion. The 說文 reads it as a company, to accompany. 伴侣 is the mate; 伴奏 the music that walks beside the voice. The character is the second half, the person who fills the other side of the road, the company that turns a walk into a shared one.

Common words & phrases

• 伙伴 partner · companion
• 陪伴 accompany
• 同伴 companion
• 伴侣 companion · mate
• 伴奏 accompaniment

Read the story behind the character

伙伴 is the partner and the teammate; 陪伴 the time someone stays. 同伴 is the fellow traveler; 伴侣 the spouse and the pet. 伴奏 is the guitar under the singer. The character names the half-that-completes, the companion, the accompaniment. It still means the second person, the one who makes you whole on the road, whether a friend, a spouse, or the music beneath the tune.

Why this character belongs on skin

伴 is the one who stays through the ordinary hours — the companion whose presence turns a room from empty to inhabited. Where 侣 speaks of the road, 伴 is the quiet company of the everyday: the coffee made without asking, the hand on your back at the party when the noise got loud, the person who knows the version of you that isn't performing. So many of us learned late that company is something you can choose, that the family you build can be warmer than the one you were born to. 伴 is that choice made flesh. It does not require a ceremony or a certificate to be real. Ink it somewhere only your person will see, or somewhere the world will, as a claim. You are accompanied. You are known. The loneliness they predicted for you did not come true.