兆 zhào omen
omen; mega-
How it came to be
象形 · Pictogram
A drawing of the thing it means.
The oldest form shows water between two people with their backs to it: people fleeing a flood.
用法
- An omen/sign of what's coming: 预兆 (yùzhào) omen, 征兆 (zhēngzhào) a sign/symptom, 好兆头 (hǎo zhàotou) a good omen.
- Also the number word for 'a trillion' (10^12) and the SI prefix mega-: 兆瓦 (zhàowǎ) megawatt, 兆字节 megabyte.
- Two unrelated jobs, portent vs. large-number/mega prefix, set apart by context.