The Calligrapher — Wáng Xiànzhī 王献之

Son of Wang Xizhi and pioneer of wild cursive who pushed brush freedom further.

Eastern Jin calligrapher (344–386), master of running script/cursive script — seventh son of Wang Xizhi who broke his father's rules for a more fluent, emotional running script; together they are 'the Two Wangs'. Eastern Jin dynasty

Cultural Story

更 is the step and the watch. 更加 the 'even more'; 更改 the change. 更新 the renew; 更深 the dead of night. 更夫 the watchman who struck the hours; 更年期 the change of life. The word is the turn of the count — the added, the altered, the night divided into watches. The Shuowen sees the sun and the correct.

Common words & phrases

• 更加 even more · still more
• 更改 change · alter
• 更新 update · renew
• 更深 late at night · dead of night
• 更年期 menopause
• 更夫 night watchman

Read the story behind the character

更加 is the 'even'; 更改 the edit. 更新 the app; 更深 the hour. 更年期 the joke; 更夫 the museum. The word runs the slider and the clock — the more, the renew. From the settings to the small hours, 更 is the step up and the watch kept, the change you make and the night the old watchman paced, both a turning of the count.

Why this character belongs on skin

The character 更 lives a double life. As a verb it means to change — the turning of a page, the shifting of a season. As an adverb it means more, even more, the deepening of a thing already deep. But its oldest pulse is the night watch. In imperial China a man walked the dark streets striking a drum to mark each watch, and that beat was called 更. The fifth watch, just before dawn, was the hour of dreams and deaths. To wear this word is to honor the part of you that stays awake when the rest of the world sleeps — the lover counting the hours, the soldier at the gate, the insomniac who knows the night more intimately than the day. It is the quiet promise that whatever you feel, you feel it further, deeper, past the point of return. Some marks are meant to keep watch over you. This one does.