正

zhēng
#129 most
frequent character
first month of the lunar year

Character breakdown

Source: Make Me a Hanzi.

正 shows a foot 止 at a city wall, now the stroke 一. It first meant 'to send an army to attack', later written 征. The meaning grew to 'to rule, govern' (later 政) and then 'to correct'. The wall part was once 丁 dīng, which also gave a sound now hard to hear.

Drawn as: foot at city wall

正 as a component in other characters

meaning3 characters
sound8 characters
picture2 characters

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