This English version was translated from the Chinese original with AI assistance. The Chinese text is authoritative.
斗
In brief: measuring rice is measuring one's conscience
Common reading
Shuowen: “斗 is ten sheng; pictographic, with a handle.” Jia Changchao writes it as ten of them. This seal form was borrowed for the 斗 of steep, because the dou is square and straight; in common use the character 陡 was made. Now it is also the simplified form of 鬥 (dòu, “to fight”); 斗 and 鬥 have the same sound.
Design reading
The 良 (liáng) of conscience (良心) sounds like the 量 (liáng) of measuring, so when merchants measure rice with a dou they are also measuring their hearts, their conscience. Each of the three hundred and sixty trades has its way. The horizontal and vertical cross: the horizontal is the way of trade, the vertical doing business by that way; the two dots at the upper left stand for a conscience before heaven and earth. Together: when measuring grain and other goods for sale with a dou, one must follow the way of trade and keep a conscience before heaven and earth.
Related characters
About this entry
This entry is taken from the edited manuscript of LI Xutong’s Exploring the Design Mysteries of Chinese Characters. The common reading follows traditional philology, the Shuowen Jiezi and other classics, and modern dictionaries; the design reading recovers the rationale of the character’s formation from the meanings of its strokes, the pairing of yin and yang, and the nine-palace layout, following the New Six Scripts. The premise of the design reading, that the generative mechanism of Chinese characters was designed, is an axiom of this system and differs from the evolutionary account usual in philology; the two readings are kept apart, as surface and depth.