伺 enquire respectfully, ask, seek, visit, to be told, to watch and wait, to spy upon, examine; to wait on, provide services, seek divine guidance, visit a shaman or an oracle 亻,司,

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MingLiU:

Mincho:

Gothic:

伺

Login Welcome!　Introduction
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On-yomi [ Toggle rōmaji ]

シ
SHI

Kun-yomi

うかが(う
u　ka　ga　u

Glyph elements [ Toggle Font ]

亻

× person (male generally), rod head, head on rod

　THE HEAD OF AN ANIMAL OR PERSON and VERTICAL, RECIPROCATING MOTION, ONE'S ROD, STALK OR STEM
　

司

シ,つかさど official person, governmental, administer, manage, to officiate religious activity

　ARRAY of MOUTH in EXTREME TENSION LONG TIME WITH GASPS
…or: ROD within NO-LONGER-INTEGRATED FOOT ORIFICE
…or: ARRAY of ORIFICE POSSIBILITIES
　

Meanings of elements

PERSON with GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL
…or: PERSON and ARRAY OF ORIFICE POSSIBILITIES

A「person」standing before an「official.」In Japanese, either to ASK or BE TOLD something. Given Chinese meanings appear laced with slightly more caution and suspicion:「person with an array of orifice possibilities」as in VISITING A SHAMAN. A similar glyph (何) with 'array' of 'who what where when how why which' needs no explanation, other than to point out the stroke elements are not actually identical in present usage:「male, array of streaming, a blast (丁)」is replaced by「tense and gasping for a long time, spring-loaded, no-longer-integrated foot」(ㄅ)…and in dynastic China, that may not have made too much difference.

External source definitions …excluding politically incorrect concepts and other meanings deemed offensive today; may include extended definitions, euphemisms, and mnemonics)
Chinese: to watch; to wait; to examine; to spy; to wait on
Japanese EDRDG: pay respects, visit, ask, inquire, question, implore
Unihan extended: serve, wait upon, attend; examine

Always keep in mind that these glyphs most likely were originally designed by groups of clever old men as vulgar riddles for their own entertainment (see 籒 for that), representing Chinese society many thousands of years ago, but intended NOT as a written or spoken language when created. If these glyphs had been intended for language use, the sages could not have possibly designed a worse system! Is it truly possible that all these glyphs started out as off-color jokes and puzzles? Yes! It is, and often with multiple correct answers to each riddle, the same as is true today. Sex had no shame in ancient China. Why would it? But, have there been necessary rewrites and altered explanations of the original elemental meanings over the centuries?

No one is suggesting these glyphs depict contemporary life in China, Japan, or anywhere else. This site describes glyph meanings, not people. These glyphs however, describe many and various things, including people, long before there were any notions of becoming politically incorrect. The question to be answered is, should these glyphs continue being used, by anyone, anywhere, for expressing language? (More...) Despite how seemingly bad our human existence is today, do you actually believe that the so-called good old days were any better? Or could they have been worse?

By the way, with a limited number of the same elements used by the sages again and again to form these glyphs, you should expect to find the same explanations again and again, as tedious as that may become, and as an inherent trait of any lexicon. This site explains multiple meanings of glyphs ignored or censored by other sources, generally as being too embarrassing to admit today.