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

Cultural Story

或 is the ancestor of 國. In its early form it enclosed a settlement and a spear — a realm defended — and only later shed the border to become the particle for someone, something, or. The 論語 uses it for the unknown person one might yet meet. The country, etymologically, is a maybe with a wall.

Common words & phrases

• 或者 or · either · perhaps
• 或许 perhaps · maybe · probably
• 间或 occasionally · from time to time
• 甚或 even · or even

Read the story behind the character

或 is the soft alternative: 或者 the choice at the counter, 或许 the maybe you offer to spare feelings, 间或 the thing that happens now and then. It does the work of or and perhaps without committing to either. A particle that once meant a defended land now means a deferred decision.