猎
Character Story & Explanation
In modern usage, 猎 most commonly appears in compound words rather than standalone: 猎人 (lièrén, hunter), 狩猎 (shòuliè, hunting—often formal or literary), and especially 猎头 (liètóu, headhunter). It’s frequent in business media and job platforms; LinkedIn China uses ‘猎头顾问’ routinely. Historically, the *Rites of Zhou* (c. 3rd c. BCE) lists ‘spring hunting’ (春猎) as one of four seasonal royal rites, tied to military drills and ecological regulation.
The character’s seal script form (c. 220 BCE) clearly shows the 犭 radical on the left and 昔 on the right—a phonosemantic compound. 昔 provides sound (xī → liè via historical sound shift) and faint semantic resonance (‘past time’ evoking seasonal cycles of hunt). No oracle bone form survives, but bronze inscriptions confirm its use by the Warring States period for both literal and figurative pursuit.
Unearthing this character feels like brushing dust from a Bronze Age bronze inscription—what emerges is not just ‘hunting’, but a ritualized human relationship with wilderness. The left radical 犭 (quǎn), the ‘dog’ or ‘beast’ component, anchors it firmly in the animal realm—suggesting pursuit, tracking, and predation. Unlike abstract verbs, 猎 carries visceral weight: it implies intentionality, skill, and often, consequence.
This character’s structure reveals its semantic logic: the right side 昔 (xī) originally meant ‘past’ or ‘dried meat’, hinting at preservation and sustenance—hunting as survival practice. In early texts like the *Zuo Zhuan*, 猎 appears in royal contexts: ‘The Duke went hunting in the southern hills’, underscoring its role in sovereignty, martial training, and seasonal rites—not mere subsistence.
By the Han dynasty, 猎 had expanded metaphorically: ‘hunting for talent’ (猎才) entered bureaucratic discourse, mirroring Confucian ideals of selecting virtuous officials. This semantic stretch—from forest to court—shows how deeply hunting was embedded in Chinese cosmology: a controlled, disciplined act bridging nature and civilization. Even today, that duality echoes in words like 猎头 (headhunter), where ‘hunt’ retains its strategic, selective force.
Example Sentences
Common Compounds
Similar Characters — Don't Mix These Up
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