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

漏 joins water with 屚 (to leak), and the Shuowen says 泄也, "to let escape." The great bronze 漏壶 (clepsydra, water clock) of the Han and Tang measured time by a slow, controlled drip, the heartbeat of the imperial observatory. Yet 漏 also meant failure: a roof that 漏雨 (leaks rain), a net with a 漏洞 (hole, flaw) through which the fish escapes. In administration, an oversight was 遗漏 (omitted). The character thus spans the precise drip that told the hour and the careless gap that lets things slip away.

Common words & phrases

• 漏水 leak · leak water
• 遗漏 omit · leave out
• 漏洞 hole · flaw
• 漏掉 miss · leave out
• 漏雨 leak rain

Read the story behind the character

漏 is the little disaster we all know. The ceiling starts 漏水 (leaking) during a storm, and you 漏掉 (miss, leave out) an item on the grocery list. A security expert finds a 漏洞 (hole, flaw) in the app, while the teacher says do not 遗漏 (omit, leave out) any step in the method. And everyone has endured a tent that 漏雨 (leaks rain) on a camping trip. From IT to housekeeping, 漏 is the gap where something unwanted gets through.

Why this character belongs on skin

There is a house in every life that will not hold its secrets. Rain finds the shingle; light escapes the curtain; a truth slips out at dinner like a coin through a torn pocket. 漏 is that escape—not failure, but the world reminding us nothing can be sealed forever. Daoism loves the leak: the clay vessel is useful precisely because of what it lets go. What leaks from you—time, grief, the hour itself—was never meant to be kept. To wear 漏 is to stop clenching. Let the water through. Some things are only held by opening your hands, and the quiet stain on the wall is proof you were porous, alive, and here. The astronomers built it into their clocks—the water clock, 漏刻, time itself measured by what drains steadily through. Every hour you have ever lived was counted by a leak. Put that admission under your skin.