三个女人一台戏
sān​ge​nǚ​rén​yī​tái​xì

noisy gathering

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

女 nǚ, nü woman

Depicts a woman sitting or squatting down.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 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

Meaning (31 of 141 verified)

好她始妈姐娘婚姑姆姓妹妙奶婆媒娜嫌娃妖妨姿奸姻嫁妄妮嫂娇姊耍姨媚姚媳姜娱娶嫩娟妒妆姬嫉妓娥婉姥娅婶婢婪婿嫦妞娴嬉嫖嫣妊娼娠婷嫡姗媲婵嫔娓娄妩媛娩婊娲娑孀媾婀姣佞妍娣妲嬗妪嬷姘婕媸娌妗婺媪嫠姒姹娉妯娆嫱嬖嫘婧嬲嫒姝妣娈嫜妁嫫媵妤嬌嫪孃姮妳娭孌嬈嫵娛嫚媠媷媽奼姪嬋姦婭嫻嬛媕妝嬪姫媧嫗嬸

Iconic (15 of 16 verified)

要如安威妇妻奴妥婴妃妾囡妟嬰婦婁

Sound (2 of 4 verified)

如奴汝钕

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartnrjoXnraʔ female
nrjoHnraʔ-s give as a wife

說文解字

《說文》：“女，婦人也。象形。王育說。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.848
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

人 rén, ren person

Pictograph of the side view of a standing person.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Iconic (65)

以年从此内先及克死万企众坐负竟介监临亮鬼兄闪寒盾夹卧欠吊兑囚蜀虐羌敖戍奂艮臨臥負閃監弔疒兌兒冘皃夌㐱夾夃奐臽卬翏丏𠩺𡵂𦰋飤幾秊𥁕厃

Meaning (4 of 5 verified)

队亮允佘仝

Sound (2 of 3 verified)

认氽䧹

Simplified (1)

队

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

隳

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartnyinni[ŋ] (other) person

說文解字

《說文》：“人，天地之性最貴者也。此籀文，象臂脛之形。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.630
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

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)

台 tái platform Simplified

Originally 台 and 㠯 were pronounced the same and thus written the same. Later 口 was added to distinguish the characters.

Components

口
口 Distinguishing component
kǒu, kou mouth
㠯
㠯 SoundRemnant component
yǐ by means of

㠯 is an ancient variant of 以.

Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 㠯 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (5 of 24 verified)

治始抬胎怡怠苔殆贻诒迨笞饴跆邰炱眙骀鲐绐詒颱貽飴

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartyilə I, me

說文解字

《說文》：“台，說也。从口，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)

戏 xì play Simplified

Original meaning: military troops outside the main group

Simplified form of 戲. Phonosemantic compound. 戈 represents the meaning and 䖒 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "military troops outside the main group". The meaning later shifted to "sport" and "play".

Components

又
又 Simplified component
yòu again

Shorthand for the 䖒 component in the traditional character 戲.

戈
戈 Meaning component
gē spear
Change in meaning
戈 hints at the original meaning of 戏, "military troops outside the main group", which is no longer the most common meaning of 戏 in modern Mandarin.

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

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

臺 tower, platform Traditional

Depicts a tall (高) building (室).

Components

高
高 MeaningRemnant component
gāo high
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 高 than it was in ancient scripts.
室
室 Meaning component
shì room

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 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
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 3 verified)

薹擡檯

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdojlˤə tower

說文解字

《說文》：“臺，觀，四方而高者。从至、从之、从高省。與室屋同意。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.830
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

戲 xì play Traditional

Original meaning: military troops outside the main group

Phonosemantic compound. 戈 represents the meaning and 䖒 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "military troops outside the main group". The meaning later shifted to "sport" and "play".

Components

䖒
䖒 Sound component
xī earthenware with the shape of a bean
戈
戈 Meaning component
gē spear
Change in meaning
戈 hints at the original meaning of 戲, "military troops outside the main group", which is no longer the most common meaning of 戲 in modern Mandarin.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartxjeHŋ̊(r)ar-s sport, joke

說文解字

《說文》：“戲，三軍之偏也。一曰兵也。从戈，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)