小昭寺
Xiǎo​zhāo​sì

Ramoche Temple

小 xiǎo small

Depicts three small dots, representing the meaning "small". Originally the same character as 少. The small dots possibly represent grains of sand (沙).

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (3 of 8 verified)

孙尖尘肖隙尕尜尗

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

肖県

Iconic (2)

𭕆𧴪

Simplified (1)

孙

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsjewX[s]ewʔ small

說文解字

《說文》：“小，物之微也。从八，丨見而分之。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.79漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

昭 zhāo, zhào bright

Phonosemantic compound. 日 represents the meaning and 召 represents the sound.

Components

日
日 Meaning component
rì sun
召
召 Sound component
zhào summon

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1)

照

Meaning (1)

照

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsyewtaw bright

說文解字

《說文》：“昭，日明也。从日，召聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

寺 sì, shì temple

Original meaning: to hold

Phonosemantic compound. 又 represents the meaning and 之 represents the sound. 又 was later reanalyzed as 寸, which also depicts a hand. Based on the original meaning "to hold", now written as 持. The current meaning "temple" is a phonetic loan.

Components

之
之 Sound component
zhī [attributive particle]
Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 之 than it was in ancient scripts.
寸
寸 Meaning component
cùn, cun (hand), inch

Originally 又 but later reanalyzed as 寸. Depicts a hand.

Change in meaning
寸 hints at the original meaning of 寺, "to hold", which is no longer the most common meaning of 寺 in modern Mandarin.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Seal form
Seal Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (7 of 11 verified)

等特持待诗侍峙恃痔詩時

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartziHs-[d]əʔ-s hall

說文解字

《說文》：“寺，廷也，有法度者也。从寸，之聲。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.234漢語多功能字庫李学勤《字源》p.242-243
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)