Posted 2017/7/2
“Xian” (县) was the earliest form of the character “xuan” (“悬”, meaning “hang, suspend”). “Xian” was written like “” before the appearance of the small seal script, with “mu” (“木”, meaning “wood”) radical on the left representing a tree or a wooden pole and the structure on the right representing a human head hanging on a rope. So, the original meaning of the character was “to hang a human head on a tree branch”. In the small seal script, the form of “xian” slightly changed, with an upside-down “shou” (首, meaning “head”) radical on the left and a “ji” (系, meaning “to tie something to another”) radical on the right. But there was no change in the meaning of the character - hanging up a human head to show to the public. From this meaning, it had the extended meanings of “to hang up; to suspend; and to tie up”.
Later, “xian” became a loan character for “huan” (寰), literally meaning “a vast region”), referring to an administrative division unit, which is a first-tier division today under the jurisdiction of a city, autonomous prefecture or a municipality directly administered under the Central Government. As “xian” became a word for an administrative division unit, the character “xuan” (悬) was created to indicate its original meaning
