The Calligrapher — Yú Shìnán 虞世南
Tang court calligrapher revered for refined, restrained regular script.
Tang calligrapher (558–638), master of regular script — Tang master of quiet, inward regular script and teacher to the imperial academy. Tang dynasty
Cultural Story
刪 is the trimmed form of 删, the knife across the text. Liu Xie, in the 文心雕龙, gave a chapter to 熔裁, the melting and cutting of prose, urging the writer to drop every spare word. The scribe's 刪定 of a classic was an act of judgement, not mere erasure. The character is editing made visible.
Common words & phrases
- 删除 delete · remove
- 删节 abridge · cut
- 删改 revise · edit
- 删减 cut · reduce
Read the story behind the character
The editor 删除 the repetition with one key. The 刪节 edition fits the train ride. He 刪改 the letter until it sounded like him. The list is 刪减 to ten points. The word names the cut that tightens a page before it reaches the reader.
Own this character
Purchase delivers the original SVG of this glyph, brushed by Yú Shìnán 虞世南, ready to place on skin, paper, or screen.