Zi:七

七 [qī] seven; (周易) young/unbreaking/unchanging 阳/陽 yáng male line (⚌)

One monosyllabic entry in The ABC Chinese-English Comprehensive Dictionary (namespace Ci):

►¹qī 七 {A} num. seven; 7 ◆b.f. each of seven seventh-day memorials after a death ‖ èr ∼ 二∼ second seventh-day memorial ◆cons. ∼ A bā B topsy-turvy AB ‖ ∼shàngbāxià ∼上八下 confused ‖ ∼dàbāxiǎo ∼大八小 of unequal size

The character 七 qī ‘seven’ (2 strokes) is the usual number form (小写), in special contexts also wr. in the elaborate for 㭍/柒 (大写); formerly wr. 𠀁.
    The Shuōwén Seal form of 七(𠀁) qī ‘seven’, the number of the young/unchanging male ⚌ (周易), is said to combine a horizontal 阳/陽 yáng ‘male/bright’ line 一(⚊), with a curved vertical line representing its struggle to remain unchanged in the face of incipient/seductive 阴/陰 yīn ‘female/dark’ forces (⚋).
    Compare: (周易) 七(𠀁) ‘young/unchanging male’ (⚊→⚊⇒⚌); 六 ‘old/changing female’ (⚋→⚊⇒⚍/⚎).
    Compare: (周易) 九(𢌬) ‘old/changing male’ (⚊→⚋⇒⚎/⚍); 八 ‘young/unchanging female’ (⚋→⚋⇒⚏).
    Note: The digram ⚌ ‘young/unchanging male’ doubles ⚊ ‘male’; doubling signifies unchanging, the lower line type (in the present) remains the same as the upper line type (in the future).
    Compare: 丂 kǎo/qiǎo (巧); 屯 zhūn (䷂); 丨 gǔn/shù/sì.
    Compare: 〇 ‘0’ (☷), 一 ‘1’ (☳), 二 ‘2’ (☵), 三 ‘3’ (☱), 四 ‘4’ (☶), 五 ‘5’ (☲), 六 ‘6’ (☴), 七 ‘7’ (☰), 八 ‘8’ (𝌓), 九 ‘9’ (𝌒), 十 ‘10’ (𝌐), ….
    Note: The even digits 〇、二、四、六、八、十 are all symmetrical; and after 一 and 三, odd digits 五、七、九 are asymmetrical.
    The oldest graphs associated with 七 qī ‘seven’ look like modern 十 shí ‘ten’; the old graphs associated with 十 ‘ten’ were wr. with 丨 a single vertical line, or else a dot was added in the middle of 丨; the dot was eventually lengthened, giving shapes like modern 十; then, in order to distinguish 七 from 十, the central line of 七(𠀁) became curved.
    HDZ: 七 : qī : (数词) 六加一的和; (文体名) 七体: 骚赋的一种 (骚体); 人死后, 每七天一祭, 至四十九日为止 (满七); 人日, 农历正月初七; (姓)
►references: Guǎngyùn:468.43; Wieger:33a; Henshall:30; Karlgren:AD1055,GSR400a; Hànyǔ Dà Zìdiǎn:1.3.3; Lindqvist:337; Mathews:579; Kāngxī Zìdiǎn:75.07; Bǐshùn Guīfàn:001.0.07; Wáng(1993):112; EDOC:1
►Cantonese: chat\
►stroke 七 (... strokes)
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Unicode: U+4E03
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