三缄其口
sān​jiān​qí​kǒu

tight-lipped

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)

缄 jiān seal Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 纟 represents the meaning and 咸 represents the sound. Simplified form of 緘.

Components

纟
纟 Meaning component
mì silk

纟 is a component form of 糸.

咸
咸 Sound component
xián all

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

其 qí its, his, (3p possessive)

Original meaning: basket

Pictograph of a basket, now written as 箕. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

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 Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 BC
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
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (8 of 18 verified)

斯期基旗欺棋琪祺淇箕麒綦骐萁蜞鯕鲯朞

Iconic (3)

粪糞棄

Deleted (1)

弃

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartgigə modal particle
gigə (3p possessive)

說文解字

《說文》：“箕，簸也。从竹；，象形；下其丌也。，古文箕省。，亦古文箕。，亦古文箕。廿从一八，籀文箕。，籀文箕。”

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)

口 kǒu, kou mouth

Pictograph of a mouth.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 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

Meaning (95 of 380 verified)

和可同知问加命听呢叫吗吧吃号响古若哪哈啊呼味叶吸呀含唐喝君嘴唯售哲喊啦召唱叹吹吓呈嘛吾吐咬鸣吨喷哀吞唤呵唇哦哩哼吻喘喂吟咽吵嗯啥唉咐喉吁辟吼嘱喃嚷喻咒哎吩啸嘲啡噢哑咳咖哨咨咕嘿嘻哇喀哗嗓哄哟呜叮弘喇嗅叭嚼咧咯哉嘶喧嗡噪吱哺啪嗽咋嘟叨啤嘎呕喔呐哮啼呻咚嘘嗜咙唾吭咦嗦噜唬呃叱叽唔喽咎噬哆嚎嗤嗨嘀喳咪侃咄啃咆唠噩呛吠嘈啄噗咏呱嗒咀嗔吆哝嚓哧喋噶唆哽啧吮叼哒嗖咔唧嗳呸嗟嚏噎呗唷喙啜呷啾囔嗷嗫嗬嚅咂喏噤嘤啵啻咛嗥噼咻唑咝啮喟啕嘭唏呓唰噫嘁咣喵啷嗑噙嗝啐辔嘹嗲哂呶噘噔咤嗵咿嗪咩啶呤唁喑啭哐嗄嘣吡咭嘧噱嘌呋卟嗍吒嗉呲呦嗌哔啖啁咴哞啉噌嘞唳喁哌唿呒嚯噻呖喱嘬哙唢哏喹吣哓吖呙吲哚嚆喈鳴唣唛噍唼哕唪哜哳茍啫噹啇咥唫啞呬唅啓喨嘮唚嗐喚喲喼嗊嘅嚨啴嘚囀噥囑噁呎啰唵嗩嘔嘖嘽嚀呫呪咊唝嘰噦審呑嗁囉嘸嘯𪠽噠咑唸吋吶呣咾噲噸嚄嗆嘜嘆嘩嗎嘍嚙唄噴冋呿嚥咼哱唎嗶噯轡𫫇問嚕囈嗚囌噓嚇嘢㕯

Iconic (42)

去如公向合名各司品告令喜占兄谷吴启呆甘昌祝曰旨舌咒兑嗣杏亟聖肙𧮫咠㗊吅呪兌吳啟𦰩𠯑𣄰

Distinguishing (15)

者高台商周害否右吉尚咱舍兽咸獸

Sound (2 of 5 verified)

句扣勾叩釦

Unknown (1 of 2 verified)

呔壽

Simplified (1)

呙

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkhuwXkʰˤ(r)oʔ mouth

說文解字

《說文》：“口，人所以言食也。象形。”

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)

緘 seal Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 糹 represents the meaning and 咸 represents the sound.

Components

糹
糹 Meaning component
mì silk

糹 is a component form of 糸.

咸
咸 Sound component
xián all

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangkrɯːm
Unicodegæm

說文解字

束篋也。从糸咸聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)