Three horizontal strokes, representing the number three.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | sam | s.rum (*s.r- > s-; infl. by 四 *s-?) | three |
| samH | s.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)
Original meaning: continue; succession
Depicts using a whip (攴) to control a succession of chariots (丙). 丙 also represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "continue; succession". The meaning later shifted to "further" and "more".
Components
Used here to depict a chariot.
Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 丙 than it was in ancient scripts.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | kaeng | kˤraŋ | change (v.) |
| kaengH | kˤraŋ-s | still more |
說文解字
《說文》：“，改也。从攴，丙聲。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇 《說文新證》 p.241
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)