TSUMUGU · B1 (est.) · 字
斯
ㄙ · sī
pronoun — this — particle — then, thus (literary)
字源 FORM — what the parts do
IFTqí → sī — the reading shifts onset and rime
An axe (斤) splits a thing apart — the original sense, to cleave. 其 qí carries the sound, worn toward sī. The graph was borrowed for the pointing word "this": 斯人 this person, 斯文 refined (literally "this culture").
故事 STORY — a scene to remember it by
斧頭落下，一根木頭應聲斯成兩半。
The axe comes down, and the log splits clean in two.
字源記憶法
意 · Meanings
(本義)劈、析— to split, cleave
→斯、斯人— this; this one (borrowed)常用
⇒斯文— refined, cultured
(本義) original meaning · → ⇒ each arrow = one more step of extension