【析形】象形字。古文字有两种形体。甲骨文字形像龟头、龟壳和龟脚的侧面之形;金文字形像龟头、四肢、尾巴和龟壳的俯视之形。小篆字形从甲骨文字形演变而来。隶、楷字形承之。 【释义】《说文》:“旧也,外骨内肉者也。”本义是乌龟。传说伏羲在龟甲的裂纹中发现了八卦。考古发现早在商周以前,人们已经大量利用龟甲作占卜之用,著名的甲骨文就是商代晚期王室的占卜记录。龟耐饥渴,生命力强,常用为长寿的象征。民间吉庆图案中也多以乌龟入画。[龟年鹤寿]相传龟、鹤寿有千百之数,因以比喻人之长寿,或用作祝寿之词。 【shape analysis】It is the pictograph character.There are two glyphs in ancient character:in Oracle,the character is shaped like the profile of a tortoise head,tortoise shell and tortoise feet;while in Bronze Inscriptions,the character is shaped like a tortoise looking down.The character in Small Seal script follows the Oracle shape. 【original meaning】Turtle.It was said that Fu Xi found the Eight Diagrams in shell crack of the tortoise.Archaeological discovery shows that as early as before Shang and Zhou Dynasties,ancient people divined with tortoise shell.The classic example is Oracle Inscriptions.