死穴
sǐ​xué

Achilles' heel

死 sǐ die

Original meaning: to bury a person

Depicts using a digging tool (歹) to bury a person (人). Based on the original meaning "to bury a person". The meaning of this character has shifted over time and now means "die".

Components

歹
歹 Iconic component
dǎi, è, dāi evil, bad

Depicts a digging tool.

人
人 Iconic component
rén, ren person

Depicts a person.

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

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
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (1 of 4 verified)

毙薨屍斃

Iconic (1)

葬

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsijXsijʔ die (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“死，澌也，人所離也。从歺，从人。，古文死如此。”

Sources

Character origin
张昂《说“死”“葬”》廣韻形聲考
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

穴 xué, jué cave

Pictograph of a cave opening.

Character Evolution

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 Qin 221-206 BC
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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (15 of 47 verified)

空究穿窗穷窝窃窄窑帘窜窥窦窟窘窍窒窖穹窿邃窠窈窕窣窸窀窨窳窭穸窆窬竅窩竇窮竄窪窅窾穵窯竈窺竊屄

Iconic (4)

突奂罙奐

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthwet[ɢ]ʷˤi[t] cave, pit

說文解字

《說文》：“穴，土室也。从宀，八聲。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.605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)