ZHIZHI 知止 · LEARN CHINESE DAILY

law; method

8 strokes · 氵 (water radical) + 去 (to go) — level as water · HSK 3

Where 法 comes from

The archaic form 灋 held water 氵, a mythical one-horned beast 廌 that gored the guilty, and 去 'to remove': justice as level as water, wrongdoers removed by a truth-detecting unicorn. Simplification kept the water and the going.

法 in Chinese culture

办法 the way to get something done — 没办法 'nothing can be done' is China's shrug. 方法 method, 法律 law, 语法 grammar. 法国 is France — the 'law country', named by sound. 书法 is calligraphy: the law of the brush.

Example

方法 fāngfǎ — method

这个方法非常好。
Zhège fāngfǎ fēicháng hǎo.
This method is very good.

How to remember it

Justice level as water 氵 — the LAW, and every METHOD that follows it.

The justice-beast 獬豸 from 法's archaic form still stands outside Chinese courthouses in statue form — a unicorn doing jury duty for 3,000 years.

Same sound, different tones

1st fā
to send out
2nd fá
to punish
3rd fǎ
law; method

Words unlocked by 法

方法 fāngfǎ
method
没办法 méi bànfǎ
nothing can be done
书法 shūfǎ
calligraphy
法国 Fǎguó
France

Related characters

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