仲 zhòng middle brother
middle brother; surname
怎么记住“仲”: 亻 person + 中 middle = middle brother. In the family photo every person has a place, and squeezed into the middle as always stands the middle brother.
部件结构
形声 · Meaning + sound
One part gives the meaning, the other gives the sound.
仲 = 亻 person + 中 middle
- 亻 person meaning
- 中 middle meaning + sound
In the family photo every person has a place, and squeezed into the middle as always stands the middle brother.
How it came to be
The small seal form is a person beside the sign for middle: the person gives the meaning, and middle gives the sound and part of the meaning.
用法
- Marks the middle one of three, the middle brother, and the middle month of a season: 仲夏 (zhòngxià) midsummer, 仲裁 (zhòngcái) arbitration (a middle party judging).
- In old brother-ranking 伯仲叔季 = eldest/second/third/youngest, so 不相伯仲 means evenly matched.
- Formal/literary; also a surname.