The Calligrapher — Zhōng Shàojīng 钟绍京

Tang calligrapher famed for the regular-script Lingfei Jing.

Tang calligrapher (), master of regular script — known for 《灵飞经》. Tang dynasty

Cultural Story

尾 shows a person with an animal tail, meaning tail or end; the Shuowen gives the tail. A 尾巴 (tail) marked the rear of a beast, and the 末尾 (tail end) of a scroll held the colophon. To 尾随 (tail, follow) someone was to dog their steps, and the 尾数 (odd amount) closed an old account book.

Common words & phrases

• 尾巴 tail
• 结尾 ending · conclusion
• 末尾 end · tail end
• 尾数 odd amount · mantissa
• 尾随 tail · follow

Read the story behind the character

A dog wags its 尾巴 (tail), and the movie's 结尾 (ending) surprises everyone. You stand at the 末尾 (end) of the queue, and a detective 尾随 (tails) a suspect. The 尾数 (odd amount, mantissa) on your bill rounds to cents; the word trails from beasts to bar tabs.

Why this character belongs on skin

Everything that moves leaves something behind it. 尾 is the tail, the trailing edge of the comet, the last note of a song still humming after the singer is gone. In the old hunt the tail was the tell — follow 尾 and you find the beast. The Daoist reads it as what follows desire: the consequence that dogs every step, faithful as a shadow. To lose your tail is to lose your story; to cut it off is to pretend you began today. We are all the tail of someone who came before — an ancestor's gesture, a mother's laugh riding at our back. Wear 尾 and you accept the part of you that trails, that lingers, that refuses to be finished. Let it mark your skin as the comma at the end of a sentence still being written. The ink is your lingering.