拜寿
bài​shòu

pay birthday respects

拜 bài pay respects

Original meaning: pull out

Depicts a hand (手) pulling a plant (𠦪) out of the ground. Based on the original meaning "pull out", now written as 拔. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

手
手 Iconic component
shǒu, shou hand
𠦪
𠦪 Iconic component
tāo, hū decorative plant

Simplified from the ancient character 𢳎.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 𠦪 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

湃

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartpeajHC.pˤro[t]-s bow, bend (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“，首至地也。从手、。，音忽。拜，揚雄說，拜从兩手下。，古文拜。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.844-845李学勤《字源》p.1054
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

寿 shòu old age Simplified

Simplified form of 壽.

Components

耂
耂 Meaning component
lǎo old

耂 is a component form of 老.

◎
◎ Unknown component
characterless component

The meaning of this component is unclear.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 10 verified)

筹涛祷铸畴焘踌俦帱梼

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

俦

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

壽 shòu old age Traditional

Phonosemantic component. 耂 represents the meaning and 𢏚 represents the sound. Later 口 and 又 were added for unknown purpose.

Components

耂
耂 Meaning component
lǎo old
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 耂 than it was in ancient scripts.
𢏚
𢏚 Sound component
chóu plowed field
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 𢏚 than it was in ancient scripts.
口
口 Unknown component
kǒu, kou mouth
又
又 Unknown component
yòu again

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Jin 266-420 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 9 verified)

禱籌鑄疇檮躊燾濤幬

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdzyuwX[N-t]uʔ longevity
dzyuwH[N-t]uʔ-s longevity

說文解字

《說文》：“壽，久也。从老省，聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫張世超《金文形義通解》p.2103
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)