yī​bǐ​gōu​xiāo

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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

writing utensil Simplified

Simplified form of . Depicts a utensil for writing () made from bamboo (⺮).

Components

Meaning component
zhú bamboo

⺮ is a component form of .

máo, mao hair

Shorthand for the component in the traditional character .

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

gōu hook

originated as a variant of . represents the sound and represents the meaning and the sound.

Components

SoundMeaning component
jiū join
Sound component
kǒu, kou mouth
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.

Component uses

Sound (3 of 5 verified)

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkuw[k]ˤ(r)ocurved
kuwH[k]ˤ(r)ok-sloan for 彀 draw a bow to the full
Zhengzhangkoː
koːs

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang

xiāo melt, sell Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Simplified form of .

Components

Meaning component
jīn metal

is a component form of .

Sound component
xiào look like

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

writing utensil Traditional

Depicts a utensil for writing () made from bamboo (⺮).

Components

Meaning component
zhú bamboo

⺮ is a component form of .

Meaning component
writing brush

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpitp.[r]ut (borrowed as *prut from Qín dialect)writing brush

說文解字

《說文》:“筆,秦謂之筆。从聿,从竹。”

Sources

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

xiāo melt, sell Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
jīn metal
Sound component
xiào look like

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
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangsew
Unicodesiɛu

說文解字

《說文》:“銷,鑠金也。从金,肖聲。”

Sources

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