Hiddenfromview 

23/10/2020 - 18/11/2020 

​

The etymological origin for the Chinese word “fo2 bun6” (伙伴), or “partner”, traces back to the ancient military system. While “fo2” ( 火 ) refers to a unit of ten militants, it also doubles to mean “fire”. Indeed, the military was organised by the fire – the leader of a unit, “fo2 zoeng2” ( 火長 , literally meaning “ chief of the fire”), was in charge of cooking all meals which the team would share together. Therefore, those within one “fo2” were called “fo2 bun6” ( 火伴 ), or “partners of fire". This word was later adapted to generally mean "partners" ( 同伴 ) and was developed to be written as "伙伴” (fo2 b