Four (old form)

It is an old written form of four, and an online stand-in for 死.

In early Chinese writing, the number four was represented by four horizontal strokes, a tally like the forms for one, two and three. By the Spring and Autumn period, writers also used the enclosed form 四, which later became ordinary. An old Chinese dictionary labels 亖 籀文, an older script form of 四.

Why do people write 亖 for 死?

It swaps in a rarer character to make a death pun.

A 2026 study of posts on Weibo, a Chinese social network, documents 亖 replacing 死 as avoidance-based wordplay: writers use a less common character in place of a direct one. In Mandarin, 四 and 死 use the same syllable with different tones. This online reading is separate from the old numeral.

In 笑亖, it means “laughing to death”; 要亖了 means “I’m going to die,” usually as dramatic exaggeration. This reading fits joking exchanges among people who know Chinese internet slang. In a condolence or serious message, it can sound flippant.