顯

Core sense: manifestation—the movement from hidden or obscure to visible or known. This extends into three primary directions:

1. Epistemic/Optical: Evident, obvious, clear, manifest. Used when a fact or object is plain to the eye or mind.

2. Social/Status-based: Illustrious, eminent, distinguished; visibility equated with prominence and power.

3. Metaphysical/Ritual: The appearance of a hidden entity (a deity, spirit, or ancestor) into the physical realm.

• Adjective: Functions as a predicate ("is evident") or an attributive modifier ("the manifest [truth]").
• Transitive Verb: To display, reveal, or make known.
• Intransitive Verb: To appear, to become prominent, or to come to light.

• vs. 明 (míng): While 明 refers to brightness, clarity of light, or intellectual understanding, 顯 refers to prominence and the act of standing out from a background.
• vs. 現 (xiàn): Both involve appearing. However, 現 typically denotes a sudden appearance or the "present" moment, whereas 顯 often implies an enduring state of clarity or a distinguished status.
• Ritual Honorific: In ancestral tablets and invocations, it serves as a formal honorific for the deceased (e.g., 顯考, "my illustrious late father"), denoting that the ancestor's virtue remains present and manifest in the lineage.

// Readings: Tang-period reading //xěn*.

• Variants: Semantic variant 𥽕; simplified variant 显.

The presence of the component 頁 (head/face) anchors the glyph in the realm of presentation and outward appearance.