【析形】甲骨文字形为会意字,像皿中有血之形。金文字形逐步演变为从血,朙(明)声的形声字。隶书字形变后改从皿旁,后声旁也统一为明。 【释义】《说文》:“,《周礼》曰:国有疑则盟诸侯,再相与会,十二岁一,北面诏天之盟司慎、司命,杀牲歃血,朱盘玉敦,以立牛耳。,篆文从朙。”本义是古代诸侯为释疑取信而对神立誓缔约的一种仪礼。古代诸侯结盟时,需杀牲歃血,盛酒于器,向神发誓,故字从血。后泛指结交,缔约;又指发誓;也指依一定信约结成的密切联合或组织,如[联盟]、[盟军]等。[城下之盟]敌人兵临城下时被迫接受的屈辱盟约。 【shape analysis】It is the associative character.In Oracle it is shaped like a utensil with blood in it. While in Bronze Inscriptions, it was developed into a pictophonetic character,related to 血(xuè, blood) in meaning and sounds like the pronunciation of朙(明,míng). 【original meaning】 A swearing rite that ancient kings held to gods for eliminating suspicion and establishing trust. When forming an alliance, ancient kings had to kill animals and smear the blood on the mouth, fill containers with wine and swear to god, so the meaning part of the character is 血.