實

The glyph centers on the concept of fullness and containment, branching into three primary ranges:

• Botanical/Physical: Denotes the literal fruit or seed of a plant. Describes an object with substance as opposed to a hollow shell. In strategic contexts, this refers to actual strength or resources versus a facade.
• Epistemological/Abstract: Denotes reality in the sense of substance and actuality rather than logical correctness.
• Character: When applied to a person, it suggests honesty, dependability, and a lack of artifice.

• Adjective: Solid, full, real, actual.
• Noun: Fruit; the substance or content (as opposed to form/exterior).
• Verb: To fill; to bear fruit or ripen; to verify; to realize or fulfill (e.g., a promise).
• Adverbial Marker: In later constructions (e.g., 實則), it functions as "actually" or "in fact," typically signaling a clarification or correction.

• 實 vs. 真 (zhēn): While both can be rendered as "true," 真 generally refers to authenticity, essence, or the original state; 實 refers to the tangible, manifested substance.
• 實 vs. 空 (kōng) / 虛 (xū): Used as a direct contrast between solidity/substance and emptiness/hollowness.

• Semantic variant: U+5BD4
• Simplified variant: U+5B9E

Translators should be wary of the inherent ambiguity between "real" as in physical existence and "true" as in factual veracity. Context is required to determine if the text refers to the physicality of an object or the truth-value of a claim.