Special

Interesting Fact

Imagine a herd of cattle—and one enormous bull standing head and shoulders above the rest. 🐂 That is surprisingly close to the original story behind 特. Ancient explanations give 特 the meaning of a mature male bull, especially one that was exceptionally large. From the image of one animal standing out from all the others, the character developed the broader meaning of something that is distinctive, exceptional, or special. So the idea of "special" originally came from something very concrete: the bull that nobody could mistake for an ordinary one.