三个代表
Sān​gè Dài​biǎo

Three Represents

三 sān three

Three horizontal strokes, representing the number three.

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 Qin 221-206 BC
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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 4 verified)

参仨闫參

Meaning (2 of 4 verified)

参叁仨參

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsams.rum (*s.r- > s-; infl. by 四 *s-?)three
samHs.r[u]m-s (*s.r- > *s-, infl. by 四 *s-?)three times

說文解字

《說文》：“三，天地人之道也。从三數。弎，古文三从弋。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.51
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

个 gè, ge, gě [measure word] Simplified

Pictograph of one stalk of bamboo. Same as one half of the character for bamboo (竹).

Character Evolution

Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Iconic (1)

支

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkaHkˤa[r]-s tally, piece, item

Sources

Character origin
Wiktionary
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

代 dài replace

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 弋 represents the sound.

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

弋
弋 Sound component
yì to shoot
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 6 verified)

袋贷黛岱玳貸

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdojHlˤək-s replace

說文解字

《說文》：“代，更也。从人，弋聲。”

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)

表 biǎo exterior surface

Depicts clothes (衣) made from fur (毛), typically the outermost layer of clothing. In simplified Chinese 表 is also used to mean "wristwatch", while in traditional Chinese this meaning is written with a separate character 錶.

Components

毛
毛 Meaning component
máo, mao hair
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 毛 than it was in ancient scripts.
衣
衣 Meaning component
yī clothes

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

婊裱錶

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

裱

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartpjewXp(r)awʔ exterior

說文解字

《說文》：“表，上衣也。从衣，从毛‧古者衣裘，以毛為表。，古文表从麃。”

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)

個 gè, ge, gě [measure word] Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 固 represents the sound.

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

固
固 Sound component
gù to become solid

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkaHkˤa[r]-s piece, item

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart