39. The "Child" Radical: 子

Isn't this the most appetizing 子 you've ever seen:

As an autonomous kanji, 子 has an array of meanings:

子 (25: child; noun suffix; sign of the rat; "child" radical)

Of course it's the last definition that interests us most here.

What Is the Name of the 子 Radical?

The Joyo kun-yomi of the 子 kanji is こ. It follows that the Japanese primarily refer to the "child" radical 子 as こ. That name pertains to these kanji, in which 子 is the on-duty radical:

学 (10: study, learning, science)

字 (28: character, letter; word; section of village)

季 (448: season)

孝 (860: filial piety)

存 (926: to exist; know; think)

When the 子 radical shifts to the left of a kanji, こへん works well as the radical name. (The へん, or 偏, means "left side of a kanji.") Three Joyo kanji feature an on-duty こへん radical:

孫 (538: grandchild; descendant)

孤 (1229: solitary)

孔 (1241: hole; Confucius)

The cross stroke of the こへん tilts up, producing 孑, the variant form of the radical. You can draw both 子 and 孑 in three strokes.

Nine Joyo kanji (including 子 itself) feature 子 as the on-duty radical, and you've now seen them all!

Why Are Children in These Kanji?

It's surprising to see 子 in several of the aforementioned kanji, so let's turn to etymological analyses to see why there are so many children in these parts. The newer edition of Henshall (which is the source of all etymological information in this Radical Note, unless otherwise indicated) says that in the 子 kanji itself, the 子 shape is based on the pictograph of an infant. From that book we also find the following:

学 (10: study, learning, science)

The traditional form of this character is 學, where the 子 means "child." The whole character once symbolized "a building whose purpose was to help people in some way." 

字 (28: character, letter; word; section of village)

This character combines "roof" and "child," with the ensemble originally meaning "to raise" or "to bring up." 

A Japanese person once told me the idea behind 字 is that characters proliferate like children under a roof. That appears to be a fun myth. Kanjigen says that 字 means "to bring up children with great care and propagate them under a roof," an etymology that mentions nothing about characters.

More Etymologies

Let's examine the role of children in several other kanji featuring the 子 radical:

季 (448: season)

Views about the etymology differ, but the 子 might convey "young," as in "young grain," given that the 禾 on top represents "grain plant," possibly "foxtail millet." One scholar believes that 季 originally meant "young grain," later losing its connection to crops and coming to mean "young child." (Apparently, that scholar doesn't say how 季 came to mean "season.") Another scholar argues that the "season, three-month period" sense emerged much later, with three months being the time required to grow and ripen grain.

孝 (860: filial piety)

Several scholars believe that the top of this character (耂) originally symbolized "old person bent over with long hair," which conveyed "old person." The 子 meant "child." Together these halves meant "child makes efforts for old person"—namely, for the parents and ancestors. However, one researcher believes that the early form contained not 子 but rather 丂 ("floating plant"), which contributed the associated sense "to bend." (I guess filial piety requires you to bend over backward!)

孫 (538: grandchild; descendant)

The 子 in 孫 means "child" or "offspring" in every interpretation Henshall cites. Scholars differ as to whether the right side was originally 糸 ("thread"), 系 ("joined threads"), or 幺 ("fine thread," representing "small"). With all three possibilities, the common thread (!) is that the whole character means "those who follow children," which is to say "grandchildren."

孤 (1229: solitary)

The 子 means "child," and the 瓜 was originally a pictograph of a "gourd on a vine." The 瓜 phonetic conveys "nothing to rely on" or "suddenly separate, lone" (depending on which researcher you ask), so the whole 孤 character represents "orphan." An orphaned gourd?! What a hard, cruel world this is!

孔 (1241: hole; Confucius)

The 子 is definitely "child," but the meaning of the remainder is unclear. One scholar takes the 乚 to be the "curve of a mother's breast," which somehow makes the 孔 character symbolize "hole in nipples." At least I think that's what Henshall is saying. If so, he is taking a leap that I don't follow. Another scholar interprets the curve as "bend and go through," referring to a "baby about to be born" and therefore "orifice of childbirth." This all boils down to "hole," with "Confucius" being a phonetic loan.

What Does 子 Mean as a Zodiac Symbol?

As I write this, we're beginning 2020, the Year of the Rat. The Chinese represent this zodiacal rat with 子, which the Japanese pronounce as ね.

How did 子 come to mean "sign of the rat"? I think it's curious that someone chose to associate children with rodents! It's hard to find answers about this, but my proofreader muses that it makes sense to associate 子 with rats as that animal is known for reproducing prolifically.

He discovered a website with this fun but tangential story: When Buddha was dying, hordes of admiring people and animals heard the news and rushed to be at his side. The animals are listed in the zodiac in the order in which they arrived. The rat made it there first, so it's the initial zodiac sign in the list of 12. The page goes on to say that the rat didn’t spread the news to any cats because cats were always unkind to rats, so cats didn't make it into the group of zodiacal animals!

Another proofreader sent me New Year's greetings with this charming bit of writing: 

Why did the mouse come first? Legend has it that a long time ago God said to all kinds of animals, "I'll have a running race. The first 12 animals will be celebrated for a whole year each year." The cow knew it would come in last, so it started before dawn. (It reminds me of long lines on Black Friday!) The cunning mouse climbed up to the cow's head and sat there. Near the very end, the mouse jumped down and finished first!