The Calligrapher — Zhèng Dàozhāo 郑道昭

Northern Wei master whose cliff steles are a regular-script treasure.

北魏 calligrapher (), master of regular script — known for 云峰山刻石. Northern Wei dynasty

Cultural Story

夸 means to boast and to praise. The 庄子 mocks 夸 (boasting) of the 蓬间雀, a bird puffed with small pride; 夸父 (Kuafu) chased the sun in the 山海经 until he fell from thirst. 夸张 (exaggeration) coloured a 楚 (Chu) court's speeches to the king. The character is the voice lifted above the facts, for pride or for show.

Common words & phrases

• 夸奖 praise · commend
• 夸张 exaggerate · hyperbole
• 夸口 boast · brag
• 夸大 magnify · overstate
• 自夸 brag · boast

Read the story behind the character

A boss 夸奖 (praises) a closed deal in the meeting; ads 夸张 (exaggerate) a claim about the product. 夸口 (boast) fills a bar story told too loudly; 夸大 (overstate) a competitor's weakness in a pitch. 自夸 (brag) litters a dating profile with trophies. Influencers walk the line between 夸奖 and 夸大 hourly — the word still lifts the voice above truth.

Why this character belongs on skin

To boast is to reach past yourself. 夸 is exaggeration — the loud claim, the story told bigger than the truth. Yet its root means vast and great; the mythic 夸父 was the giant who chased the sun until he fell, thirsting, and became the peach trees that feed travelers. So the character holds both the fool and the hero, the one who reaches too far and the one who becomes a blessing by reaching. To wear 夸 is to own your appetite for more, your refusal to stay small, even when the world calls it pride. It is a mark for the one who dreams in oversize. On the skin it sits like a defiant grin — a reminder that every great thing began as someone's impossible boast, and that the sun, after all, is worth the running.