隶
lì HSK7

subservient

Original meaning: catch from behind

Depicts a hand (又) grabbing a tail (尾) from behind. Based on the original meaning "catch from behind", now written as 逮. In simplified Chinese 隶 is also used to mean "subservient", while in traditional Chinese this meaning is written with a separate character 隸.

Components

又
又 Iconic component
yòu hand
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 又 than it was in ancient scripts.
尾
尾 Iconic component
wěi tail

Derived from the pictographic form of 尾 (tail).

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

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

逮棣埭

Meaning (2)

逮隸

Iconic (1)

肆

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdojHm-rˤəp-s reach to

說文解字

《說文》：“隶，及也。从又，从省。又持者，从後及之也。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.221-222
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

隸 lì subservient Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 柰 represents the sound and 隶 represents the meaning.

Components

柰
柰 Sound component
nài crab-apple tree
Change in sound
隶
隶 Meaning component
lì subservient

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 BC
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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartlejH[r]ˤə[p]-s subordinate

說文解字

《說文》：“隸，附箸也。从隶，柰聲。，篆文隸从古文之體。”

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)