Two - easy going or reckless?

This is the third in a series of posts where I’m looking at how the Chinese view numbers, often from a superstitious basis.

Two

The Chinese character for two (Èr) is shown on the right hand side of the main image above. It’s two single lines (probably originally sticks).

Generally, the number two is regarded as a good number in Chinese culture. Similar to the English saying, the Chinese have an equivalent saying for “good things some in pairs”.

Two suggests happiness, joy, and luck. However, two can also represent stupid and reckless.

Because the Cantonese word for two is similar sounding to the word for “easy”, two is also often associated with “easy”. A good example is that the number 24 is often regarded as “easy death” or “reckless death”. We’ll talk about 4 later.

2019-08-02