Simplified
Original meaning: to not be seen
Simplified form of 萬. Variant of 丏. Depicts a person (人) with a cover on top, conveying the original meaning "to not be seen". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Old Chinese | |
|---|---|
| Zhengzhang | mans |
| mɯːɡ |
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.701黃德寬《古文字譜系疏證》p.2839-2840
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Zhengzhang Shangfang
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
The characters 史 (history), 吏 (government official), 使 (cause; use; instruct), and 事 (matter; work; affair) are all etymologically related and all derive from the same ancient character, depicting a hand (又) holding a container for writing utensils. 事 and 史 were originally written the same, but later an extra mark was added to distinguish them.
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | dzriH | [m-s-]rəʔ-s | serve; service, affair |
說文解字
《說文》：“事，職也。从史，之省聲。，古文事。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.214
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Depicts people (从) moving and speaking (曰) together, conveying the meaning "all". (Oversimplified for brevity. The real story of this character is quite complicated.)
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | keaj | kˤrij | all |
說文解字
《說文》：“皆，俱詞也。从比，从白。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫李学勤《字源》p.289-290
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Simplified
Simplified form of 備. Depicts preparing a container for arrows to equip oneself for battle.
Components
Origin unclear. In simplified Chinese, in addition to the meaning "only", 只 is also used as a measure word. In traditional Chinese this meaning is written as 隻.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | |
|---|---|---|
| Zhengzhang | klje | |
| kljeʔ | ||
| Unicode | jǐɛ |
說文解字
《說文》：“只，語已詞也。从口，象氣下引之形。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.149-150
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Zhengzhang Shangfang
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Pictograph of a person (人) opening their mouth to yawn.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | khjomH | [k]ʰ(r)om-s | yawn |
說文解字
《說文》：“欠，張口气悟也。象气从人上出之形。”
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)
Simplified
Traditional
Original meaning: scorpion
Originally a pictograph of a scorpion. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | mjonH | C.ma[n]-s | 10,000 |
說文解字
《說文》：“萬，蟲也。从厹，象形。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.954-955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
Depicts a person (亻) preparing a container for arrows to equip himself for battle.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Sound (0 of 1 verified)
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | bijH | [b]rək-s | complete (adj.) |
說文解字
《說文》：“備，慎也。从人，聲。，古文備。”
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 basket or a bag. The current meaning "east" is a phonetic loan.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | tuwng | tˤoŋ (< *tˤoŋʔ ?) | east |
說文解字
《說文》：“東，動也。从木。官溥說，从日在木中。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.492-493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
Originally written the same as 鳳 (phoenix) because the two characters sounded the same. Later the bottom part of the character was abbreviated to distinguish the two characters.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | pjuwng | prəm | wind (n.) |
| pjuwngH | prəm-s | blow; criticize |
說文解字
《說文》：“風，八風也。東方曰明庶風；東南曰清明風；南方曰景風；西南曰涼風；西方曰閶闔風；西北曰不周風；北方曰廣莫風；東北曰融風。風動蟲生，故蟲八日而化。从虫，凡聲。凬，古文風。”
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)