wú
negative
Original meaning:
dance
Pictograph of a person dancing, with ox tails or bird feathers hanging from his arms, to pray for rain. Original form of 舞 (dance). The current form is a phonetic loan. The simplified character 无 was adapted from the cursive form of the traditional character 無.
Evolution
![无 Bronze script Mid Spring and Autumn (~600 BC) 无 Bronze script Mid Spring and Autumn (~600 BC)](https://data.dong-chinese.com/img/sinica/%E6%97%A0_0.png)
Bronze script
Mid Spring and Autumn (~600 BC)![无 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD) 无 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)](https://data.dong-chinese.com/img/sinica/%E6%97%A0_4.png)
Seal script
Shuowen (~100 AD)![无 Clerical script Western Jin dynasty (266-316 AD) 无 Clerical script Western Jin dynasty (266-316 AD)](https://data.dong-chinese.com/img/sinica/%E6%97%A0_12.png)
Clerical script
Western Jin dynasty (266-316 AD)Regular script
ModernDefinitions
Sources
季旭昇《說文新證》p.495