兆

---

← →

portent

On-Yomi: チョウ — Kun-Yomi: きざ.す、きざ.し

Elements:

portent, turtle, portent

Heisig story:

Here we have a pictograph of the back of a turtle, the two sloping vertical strokes representing the central ridge and the four short strokes the pattern. Think of reading turtle shells as a way to foretell the future, and in particular things that portend coming evils.

Heisig comment:

* When this character is used as a primitive in its full form, we keep the key-word sense of a portent. When it appears to the left in its abbreviated form (namely, the left half only), we shall give it the pictographic sense of a turtle.

Koohii stories:

1) [mameha1977] 17-9-2007(146): When your wife's LEGs get huge hairs on them it is surely a bad portent for things to come.

2) [johanvg] 13-7-2006(110): A bad portent makes the hairs on your legs stand.

3) [DrJones] 18-12-2007(35): Two persons turning their backs is a bad sign. Hint: Don't use "turtle" as a primitive. You'll save a lot of troubles with following kanji if you give this primitive the meaning "a person's back".

4) [jabberwockychortles] 27-4-2009(26): The actual derivation of this Kanji is a pictograph of the cracks on a heated turtle shell which was used in divination. The way the cracks occur on this turtle are a portent of evil bad luck.

5) [NooNoo] 23-4-2008(9): To me it looks like a "black angel" or something (four wings and its human-looking legs). Maybe seeing it is a bad portent?

---