‌Why does the hanzi for “autumn” (秋) contain the radicals for “grain stalk” (禾) and “fire” (火)?

The first character for autumn represents a cricket, which was carved on the back armor of ancient turtles and the shoulder blades of cows for divination.

The second one was written on bronze ware.

The third one was written in a scroll made with silk production in the state of Chu. To the left of this character is a sun, and to the right is a grain plant, which obviously includes high temperatures and agricultural harvesting activities.

The state of Chu was in Southern China.

The fourth character comes from the oldest Chinese dictionary, Shuowen Jiezi. Its left side is similar to the autumn character of Chu state, while its right side is the same as the autumn character on turtle shell. The upper left is a grain plant, the lower left is fire flame, and the right is a cricket.

Because crickets are too difficult to draw, in the fifth one, people only kept one cereal plant and one flame. This happened during the Qin Dynasty, when China was first unified. At this time, the royal family of the Qin Dynasty had already established a consistent script for China.

And the last character is the writing way that has been passed down since then.

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