yī​zì​yī​lèi

heartbreaking

one

A single horizontal stroke, representing the number one.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 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
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 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 Three Kingdoms (Wu) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (2 of 7 verified)

Unknown (2)

Distinguishing (1)

Simplified (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'jitʔi[t] one

說文解字

《說文》:“一,惟初太始,道立於一,造分天地,化成萬物。弌,古文一。”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

zì, zi letter

Original meaning: raise up children

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. The (roof) component is based on the original meaning "raise up children". The meaning later shifted to "educate", "word", and "writing".

Components

Meaning component
mián roof
Change in meaning
hints at the original meaning of , "raise up children", which is no longer the most common meaning of in modern Mandarin.
SoundMeaning component
zi, zǐ child
Change in meaning
hints at the original meaning of , "raise up children", which is no longer the most common meaning of in modern Mandarin.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdziHmə-dzə(ʔ)-s breed, love (v.); character

說文解字

《說文》:“字,乳也。从子在宀下,子亦聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

lèi tears Simplified

Simplified form of . Depicts drops of water () coming from the eye ().

Components

Iconic component
shui, shuǐ water

is a component form of .

Iconic component
eye

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical images
Academia Sinica

lèi tears Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

is a component form of .

Sound component
bend, violate, transgress

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartlwijH[r][ə]p-s tears (n.)

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica