雙語解漢字: Chinese Characters 15-many（多）

From morning to evening man toiled in the field,and evening(夕) after evening(夕) he noted the fruitage of his labour.“many evenings”(多) soon came to mean “many”.His hard word bore much fruit,producing a new word:夥(fruitful) and demonstrating the principle:“Sow much,reap much;sow little,reap little.”

“多”是由兩個“夕”組成，用很多個夜晚來表示多。“多”有一個異體字寫作“夥”，由“果”和“多”組成，意思是收穫甚多。這也應了那句俗語：“多勞多得，不勞無獲。”

也有說“多”字中的兩個“夕”，在甲骨文中表示肉塊，古時候肉很難得，兩塊肉，就已經很多啦！

The More The Better

Soon after Liu Bang(劉邦) became emperor of Han,he discussed the abilities of his generals with Han Xin(韓信).He asked,“How many soldiers could a person like myself command?”Han Xin answered,“Your Majesty could command only 100,000.” Liu Bang asked again,“Then how about you?” Han Xin answered,“In my case,the more the better.” Liu Bang laughed,and said,“If that is so,then why are you my subject?” Han Xin answered,“Your Majesty’s talent does not lie in commanding troops but in commanding generals.That is why I am your Majesty’s subject.” Liu Bang laughed heartily at this.

Later,the expression “the more troops Han Xin commands,the better”, came to mean “the more the better.”

多多益善

漢高祖劉邦登基后，曾經在閑暇時與韓信評論各位將領的才能。劉邦問道：“像我這樣的人，能夠統領多少士兵？”韓信說：“陛下您只不過能指揮十萬人。”劉邦說：“那你能指揮多少呢？”韓信回答道：“對我來說，越多越好。”劉邦笑道：“越多越好嗎？那你為什麼是我的屬下，為我效命？”韓信說：“陛下您不善於指揮士兵，但善於指揮將官，這就是韓信我之所以被陛下您所控，為您效命的原因了。而且您指揮將官的能力是天生的，不是人們努力所能達到的。”

後來，“韓信點兵，多多益善”，就用來比喻某些人或某些東西越多越好。

“Analysis of Chinese Characters by bilingual”，is opened for the convenience of Chinese and foreign friends who are interested in Chinese characters. We’ll push a Chinese character every Monday，analyze its originand related culture. If there is any impropriety，welcome to correct us.

為方便對漢字感興趣的中國朋友和外國朋友，我們開設了《雙語解字》欄目。每周一推送一個漢字的來歷和相關文化，如果其中有不恰當的地方，歡迎中外朋友指正。