一枝独秀
yī​zhī​dú​xiù

outstanding

一 yī 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

Iconic (9)

生之方或万旦曰巿丏

Meaning (2 of 7 verified)

百千兹闩戛晉閂

Unknown (2)

昼晝

Distinguishing (1)

夫

Simplified (1)

丛

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
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

枝 zhī branches

Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 支 represents the sound.

Components

木
木 Meaning component
mù tree
支
支 Sound component
zhī support, hold up

Character Evolution

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
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsyeke branch (of tree)

說文解字

《說文》：“枝，木別生條也。从木，支聲。”

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)

独 dú alone Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 犭 represents the meaning and 蜀 represents the sound. Simplified form of 獨.

Components

犭
犭 Meaning component
quǎn dog

犭 is a component form of 犬.

虫
虫 Simplified component
chóng bug, insect

Shorthand for the phonetic 蜀 component in the traditional character 獨.

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

秀 xiù elegant, excellent

Depicts a grain seedling (禾) pulled out (引) of the ground. The meaning later expanded to "bloom", "blossom", "elegant", and "excellent".

Components

禾
禾 Iconic component
hé grain stalk
引
引 IconicRemnant component
yǐn to pull

Modern form looks like 乃.

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

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 Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 7 verified)

透诱绣锈莠誘銹

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

诱誘

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsjuwH[s-l]u(ʔ)-s to flower

說文解字

《說文》：“秀，上諱。”

Sources

Character origin
李学勤《字源》p.632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)

獨 dú alone Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 犭 represents the meaning and 蜀 represents the sound.

Components

犭
犭 Meaning component
quǎn dog

犭 is a component form of 犬.

蜀
蜀 Sound component
shǔ short name for Sichuan
Change in sound

Character Evolution

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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartduwk[d]ˤok alone; only

說文解字

《說文》：“獨，犬相得而鬭也。从犬，蜀聲。羊為羣，犬為獨也。一曰北囂山有獨獸，如虎，白身，豕鬣，尾如馬。”

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)