Early forms of 言 are closely associated with speaking and are often analysed as a mouth, 口, beneath a projecting or marked element. Scholars do not fully agree on what that upper element originally pictured, so it is safest not to turn it into a literal folk story. Across the early script, however, the graph developed the clear meanings “speech”, “words” and “to say”. This ancient-form-inspired sketch keeps the open mouth and the strong marks rising above it.
A piece of culture
Words inside many characters 言 is a character by itself and an important meaning component. In traditional characters such as 語, 話 and 謝, it points toward language or speech; in many simplified forms it becomes the compact left-side component 讠, as in 语, 话 and 谢. Recognising both shapes helps a beginner connect Simplified and Traditional Chinese instead of learning them as unrelated drawings.