| 曰 yuē |
| to speak ; call |
| 子曰 zǐ yuē |
| 皆曰 jiē yuē | |
Its original meaning was “to speak” e.g. 子曰, Confucius said. In oracle bone inscriptions, its form was constituted by 口, mouth, and a short horizontal plane added as the self-explanatory symbol signifying the words spoken by mouth. It extended to mean 称为, to be called. |