The story of 姻

marriage

姻 is composed of女(a woman) and因(a man stretching his limbs inside an enclosure, means relying). In the concept of ancient Chinese, woman does not have any productivity, she needs to marry a man so she can reply on him. In other words, marriage is the career of a woman. Therefore, we use女 and因 to form 姻 to represent the meaning of marriage.