祭

The core sense is the act of making an offering to ancestors or spirits. Rather than purely "religious" worship, it often denotes the provisioning or nourishing of the unseen to maintain a relationship, frequently as an expression of filial piety extended beyond the grave. Semantic range varies by context from state-level formality to intimate familial duty.

• Verb: To offer to; to sacrifice to (typically followed by the recipient, such as ancestors 祖 or gods 神).
• Noun: The ritual ceremony itself; occasionally refers to the physical offerings used within the rite.
• Modifier/Attributive: Pertaining to ritual or sacrificial matters (e.g., 祭器 "ritual vessels").

When appearing alongside 祀, a distinction is often maintained: 祭 typically refers to the specific act of offering—the physical event and the food or wine used—whereas 祀 tends toward the institutional aspect, such as the system of worship, the ancestral temple, or the official calendar of rites.

The reading is stable (Tang: *tziɛ̀i).

The glyph emphasizes the physical tools of the rite, depicting offerings on an altar. Early script variations in the arrangement of these components do not materially alter the meaning.

While frequently glossed as "sacrifice," translators should consider if "offering" or "veneration" is more appropriate based on the tone of the passage (i.e., state formality versus familial duty).