You Collection, Middle Volume Radical: Shell (bèi) Character: ze Kangxi Stroke Count: 17 Page 1211, Entry 02 Ancient form. According to the Extensive Rhyme (Guangyun), it is pronounced ze. In the Book of Changes (Yijing), in the Appended Remarks (Xici), it says, The sages are able to perceive the mysteries of the world. The commentary explains that this refers to that which is obscure, deep, and difficult to perceive. The Explanation of the Text (Shiwen) notes that in the Jing version, it is written as ze. According to the preface of the Analytical Dictionary of Characters (Shuowen) by Xu Xuan, which discusses corrupted and erroneous common writings that do not conform to the six scripts, ze is considered a borrowed character and should be used interchangeably with ze. According to the Collection of Rhymes (Jiyun), ze is sometimes also written in a variant form.