要
Definition
yào:* 索取。 ～账。～价。 * 希望，想。 ～强。～好。 * 请求。 她～我给她读报。 * 重大，值得重视的。 重～。～人。～领。纲～。～言不烦。 * 应该，必须。 须～。 * 将（ jiāng ） 将～。快～。 * 如果，倘若。 ～是。 * 表选择。 ～么。～不。～不然。 yāo:* 求，有所倚仗而强求。 ～求。～挟。 * 同"腰"。 * 同"邀"，中途拦截。 * 同"邀"，约请。 * 姓
necessary, essential; necessity
Structure
Related substructures
Precursors
Bronze Inscriptions
c. 1200–221 BCE (Shang–Zhou; continues into the Warring States)
Inscriptions cast or engraved on ritual bronzes, especially prominent from the Western Zhou onward; a major source for early political, ritual, and social history.Wikipedia ->
Qin Script
c. 475–206 BCE (Qin, Warring States → Qin dynasty)
Qin-area character forms attested on bamboo/wood slips (e.g., Shuihudi, deposited 217 BCE), overlapping chronologically with the standardization of seal script and the emergence of clerical tendencies.Wikipedia ->
Small Seal Script
Standardized 221–206 BCE (Qin); developed earlier in Qin
The standardized seal script promulgated after Qin’s unification, based on earlier Qin seal forms and used as an empire-wide norm.Wikipedia ->
Clerical Script
c. 300 BCE–220 CE (emerged late Warring States/Qin; dominant Han)
A practical script that evolved from late Warring States/Qin writing; it matured and became dominant in the Han dynasty, favoring faster, more rectilinear strokes.Wikipedia ->
Transmitted Pre-Qin Forms
Pre-Qin forms (≤221 BCE) / late 2nd century BCE onward (Han → later textual transmission)
Pre-Qin character forms preserved through later textual transmission (often discussed as the 'Old Text' / guwen tradition). Shaped by repeated copying, they can diverge from excavated Warring States materials.Wikipedia ->