balances, scales, steelyard
秤 centers on weighing and measuring weight: a balance, scale, or steelyard used to determine how heavy something is.
秤 combines 禾 (grain) with 平 (flat, even), suggesting a device for leveling or balancing grain to measure weight. The exact historical development is uncertain, but the component combination fits the weighing meaning.
The left side is grain 禾, and the right side is flat/even 平. Picture a balance scale with grain on one side and a flat weight on the other, making everything even.
For ショウ, imagine a merchant showing a customer the balanced scale: show -> ショウ, and the scale shows the exact weight.
(balance) scales
scales; weighing machine
large beam balance; weighbeam
torsion balance
torsion balance
spring balance; spring scale; pull tension gauge
two alternatives
to try to have it both ways; to play a double game; to have two strings to one's bow
to try to have it both ways; to play a double game; to have two strings to one's bow
chemical balance
to weigh (one thing against another); to compare (the relative merits of two options); to weigh (something) on scales
balance scale; balance
Libra (7th zodiacal sign); the Scales
Libra (constellation); the Scales
pressing the top of a pickle vat by hanging a weight on a staff, used as a lever (in Kyoto suguki pickle making)
carrying pole; shoulder pole; milkmaid's yoke
(sake) brewed in wooden vats, squeezed out by weight on a pole
a water level
analytical balance; direct reading balance
to weigh on a scale