革 gé leather
leather; animal hide; to reform
How it came to be
象形 · Pictogram
A drawing of the thing it means.
The oldest form shows an animal hide stretched out, with the head at the top and the tail and legs at the bottom.
用法
- Bound character with two unrelated meaning branches: reform/change (改革 gǎigé "reform," 革命 gémìng "revolution," 变革 biàngé "transformation," 革新 géxīn "innovate") and leather (皮革 pígé "leather").
- 改革 and 革命 are heavyweight words in Chinese political and economic discourse, used for large-scale, historic change rather than everyday small adjustments.