Seal script

Seal script or sigillary script (<a href="/facts/Simplified_Chinese_characters/UcAD6xXs">simplified Chinese</a>: 篆书; <a href="/facts/Traditional_Chinese_characters/bBFLkuz7">traditional Chinese</a>: 篆書; <a href="/facts/Pinyin/pUwjfMXg">pinyin</a>: Zhuànshū; lit. 'decorative engraving script') is a <a href="/facts/Chinese_script_styles/VfMvbqtj">style</a> of writing <a href="/facts/Chinese_characters/5pn1PFvj">Chinese characters</a> that was common throughout the latter half of the 1st millennium BC. It evolved organically out of <a href="/facts/Bronze_script/dCVE4SaY">bronze script</a> during the <a href="/facts/Zhou_dynasty/70beuGpa">Zhou dynasty</a> (1046–256 BC). The variant of seal script used in the <a href="/facts/State_of_Qin/m2gNbCq7">state of Qin</a> eventually became comparatively standardized, and was adopted as the formal script across all of China during the <a href="/facts/Qin_dynasty/TeBU8Nh3">Qin dynasty</a> (221–206 BC). It was still widely used for decorative engraving and <a href="/facts/Seal_(East_Asia)/Kg4VjsM4">seals</a> during the <a href="/facts/Han_dynasty/hanfxS9D">Han dynasty</a> (202 BC – 220 AD).
The literal translation given above was coined during the Han dynasty, and reflects the role of the script being reduced to ceremonial inscriptions.

Seal script open-in-new

Seal script