has the meaning tree. Many Chinese characters have one or two trees in them.

Today is written 木 [mù].

oracle bone script for 木

has the meaning forest. I believe that there is something significant with these two trees. As we will see soon.

Today is written 林 [lín].

oracle bone script for 林

has the meaning greedy, covet and have an insatiable desire for food. Could it be more obvious. The Bible says that in the midst of the garden there were two trees. One of the two trees was the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Adam and Eve were not allowed to eat the fruit of that tree. Eve still got desire to eat of the fruit. The serpent decieved her and she and Adam ate of the fruit. In this character we see two trees and a woman.

Today is written 婪 [lán]. Even from the modern character it is clear that it is a woman and two trees.

The similarities in prononciation 婪 [lán] and 林 [lín] does not exclude a pictographic meaning of this character.

oracle bone script for 婪

has the meaning not (and according to Kangxi dictionary) cannot, should not and die. I believe that because this character was so often used, the two trees were simplified to two vertical lines. Both tree and vertical line have the exact same prononciation in modern Chinese and could support this. The Bible story is also supporting this. God had forbidden Adam and Eve to eat of the fruit of the tree. He had said that if they ate then they would die. The character has both the meaning not and the very old meaning to die. We see a serpant and two trees in it.

Scholars acknowledge that is the old version. But nobody knows what the oracle bone character mean. I believe they are one and the same character. As you see in the animation in the beginning of the page.

This character was so often used that an simplikation was needed. Everyone at that time anyway knew that the two vertical lines [shù] had the meaning two trees [shù].

两竖 [shù] two vertical lines
两个树 [shù] two trees

Today or is written 弗 [fú].

oracle bone script for 弗

oracle bone script for perhaps 弗