Heavenly Stem · 4 of 10
Ding丁
/dɪŋ/
Ding is the fourth of the ten Heavenly Stems, and the character itself means "fourth". It is yin Fire and belongs to the south. Ding has no cell of its own on the chart: it lodges on Goat with Ji, so wherever the chart shows Goat, read Ding.
- 甲JiaYang Wood
- 乙YiYin Wood
- 丙BingYang Fire
- 丁DingYin Fire
- 戊WuYang Earth
- 己JiYin Earth
- 庚GengYang Metal
- 辛XinYin Metal
- 壬RenYang Water
- 癸GuiYin Water
Term details
| Chinese | 丁 |
|---|---|
| Pinyin | dīng |
| Standard name | Ding |
| First mention | Ding (Yin Fire 丁) |
| Order | 4 of 10 |
| Element | Fire |
|---|---|
| Yin or yang | yin |
| Lodges on | Goat 未 of the Earth Plate |
| Patron by day | Pig 亥 |
| Patron by night | Rooster 酉 |
Etymology
In oracle-bone script 丁 is a square or a dot. Most scholars take it as the head of a nail, the original form of 釘 "nail"; others have proposed a head, a city wall, or the Great Square of Pegasus.
The Shuowen Jiezi, the Han dynasty dictionary, reads it as "in summer all things are sturdy and full", and adds that the character pictures the heart. From "sturdy" come the senses of an adult man and of a head of population, which 丁 still carries in words for able-bodied men and household members. From "the fourth" comes the sense "fourth", still used for grade D.
The Old Chinese pronunciation is reconstructed as *tˤeŋ (Baxter and Sagart). Middle Chinese was teng, close to today's dīng.
Significations
- nature
- change, unrest, alteration, transformation
- direction and time
- the south
Source text
Yang is virtue and yin is punishment; yin follows its husband and yang stands on its own. Gui is yin and Ding governs movement; what is closed is death and what moves is life. … The nature of Ding, Fire, is yang and movement: it is the image of life, the exact opposite of Gui.
陽為德而陰為刑，陰從夫而陽自處；癸為陰而丁主動，閉為死而動主生。……丁火之性主陽主動，是生之象，正與癸相反。
Sources: 大六壬指南 卷一、卷二; 六壬直指 丁丑日丑将、丁卯日未将、丁亥日卯将; 大六壬集应钤 丁巳日寅将、丁酉日酉将; 毕法赋注解 游子课; 六壬课经释义 游子