A single horizontal stroke, representing the number one.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | 'jit | ʔi[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)
Original meaning: to strike
Depicts using a staff (丂) for striking. Based on the original meaning "to strike", now written as 抨. The meaning later shifted to "level", "even", and "flat".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | bjien | [b]en | distinguish; punctiious |
| bjaeng | breŋ | even (adj.) | |
| bjaeng | m-breŋ | make even |
說文解字
《說文》：“平，語平舒也。从亏，从八。八，分也。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 王森《甲骨文、金文所谓“乎”字当释为“平”字》
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Pictograph of a river.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | tsyhwen | t.l̥u[n] (MC -jwen is irregular) | stream, river |
說文解字
《說文》：“川，貫穿通流水也。《虞書》曰：‘濬巜距川’，言深巜之水會為川也。”
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)
Traditional
Pictograph of a horse.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | maeX | mˤraʔ | horse |
說文解字
《說文》：“馬，怒也；武也。象馬頭髦尾四足之形。，古文。，籀文馬與同，有髦。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.741-742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)