一槌定音

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)

槌 chuí, zhuì, duī hammer

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

Components

木
木 Meaning component
mù tree
追
追 Sound component
zhuī pursue

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangdols
dul

說文解字

關東謂之槌，關西謂之㭙。从木追聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

定 dìng settle

Phonosemantic compound. 宀 represents the meaning and 正 represents the sound.

Components

宀
宀 Meaning component
mián roof
正
正 Sound component
zhèng, zheng, zhēng correct
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
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

Sound (0 of 9 verified)

绽淀锭啶碇靛腚錠綻

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdengHN-tˤeŋ-s become fixed; settled (v.i.)
dengHm-tˤeŋ-s make fixed, settle (v.t.)
tengHtˤeŋ-s ready-cooked (food)

說文解字

《說文》：“定，安也。从宀，从正。”

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)

音 yīn sound

Originally the same as 言 (speech) but with an extra line added in the mouth (口) to distinguish the two characters.

Components

言
言 Iconic component
yán speech

Depicts a tongue sticking out of the mouth.

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

Mark to distinguish 音 from 言.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Qin 221-206 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 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

Sound (1 of 8 verified)

暗黯谙歆喑窨揞諳

Meaning (2 of 5 verified)

意韵韶響韻

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'im[q](r)əm sound, tone

說文解字

《說文》：“音，聲也。生於心有節於外謂之音；宮商角徵羽聲；絲竹金石匏土革木音也。从言，含一。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.164-165
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)