僕
ボク, しもべ
me, I (male)
JLPT1 G7 S14 F1236
The relevant oracle bone form of 菐# depicts a rough slave/servant spreading his arms in falling prostrate. Distinguish 菐 from 業 (stand with notched wooden supports on both ends) and note that the present-day meaning of 菐 (thicket) is borrowed from the graphically similar 丵. A needle (suggesting the blinding of slaves: compare 艮, 民, and 童) hangs over the slave's head, and a tail is appended to lay unqualified stress on the near-animal nature of a slave's lowly status. adds 人 person for emphasis/clarification → *servant* (person of low birth and rough manners) → humble reference to self → *I* (← casual masculine reference to self).
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