<p>The character is the Shuowen seal form of「克」.</p>

<p>「克」was originally a compound of「由」(<em>a helmet</em>, top part of「冑」) and a reduced form of「皮」(<em>an animal being skinned for its hide</em>, with the action being represented by the hand「又」;「又」is not present in the original forms of「克」):</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/3XfVf.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/3XfVf.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p><em>Illustrative purposes only; this may not be strictly how the character changed over the years.</em></p>

<p>Compare:</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/1Xc1T.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/1Xc1T.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-21T19:06:27.570Z
2018-07-21T19:06:27.570Z
dROOOze
<p>Came across this etching in a ABAC pattern as the A:</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/o2Uru.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/o2Uru.png" alt="yeah"></a></p>

<p>The more complicated ones were easier to identify, but this one is kind of tricky.</p>

<p>One guess was that it was the character for 今, but that doesn't check out because it would probably look more like this:</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/lZqA4.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/lZqA4.png" alt="po"></a></p>

<p>Any ideas what this is? How to go about identifying it?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-21T03:22:34.127Z
What were B and C?
dROOOze
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-21T04:44:50.967Z
@droooze Well, now I’ve gone and figured it out since you asked that. The whole phrase is 克勤克俭, the above character is 克.
Mou某
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-21T04:46:47.537Z
What a fascinating shape!
dROOOze
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-21T07:41:57.913Z
@droooze Probably a play on: ?
Mou某
<character-identification>
What is this character? How to identify it?
# What is this character? How to identify it?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-07-21)

Came across this etching in a ABAC pattern as the A:

[![yeah](https://i.sstatic.net/o2Uru.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/o2Uru.png)

The more complicated ones were easier to identify, but this one is kind of tricky.

One guess was that it was the character for 今, but that doesn't check out because it would probably look more like this:

[![po](https://i.sstatic.net/lZqA4.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/lZqA4.png)

Any ideas what this is? How to go about identifying it?

**Tags:** character-identification

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: What were B and C?  
> **username_0**: @username_1 Well, now I’ve gone and figured it out since you asked that. The whole phrase is 克勤克俭, the above character is 克.  
> **username_1**: What a fascinating shape!  
> **username_0**: @username_1 Probably a play on: ?  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2018-07-21. Score: 6 | Accepted answer

The character is the Shuowen seal form of「克」.

「克」was originally a compound of「由」(*a helmet*, top part of「冑」) and a reduced form of「皮」(*an animal being skinned for its hide*, with the action being represented by the hand「又」;「又」is not present in the original forms of「克」):

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/3XfVf.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/3XfVf.png)

*Illustrative purposes only; this may not be strictly how the character changed over the years.*

Compare:

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/1Xc1T.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/1Xc1T.png)


---

