Original meaning: sepals
Pictograph of sepals of a flower. The modern meaning "no" is a phonetic loan.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | pjuw | pə | not |
| pjuw | pə | 不律 writing brush (pron. in Wú 吳 ap. Shuōwén; E. Hàn) |
說文解字
《說文》：“不，鳥飛上翔不下來也。从一，一猶天也。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)
Depicts a hand (扌) using an axe (斤) to chop something. Older forms of this character depicted an axe chopping a tree into two pieces.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | dejH | [d]ˤet-s | solitary standing (sc. tree) |
| dzyet | N-tet | bend (v.i.) | |
| tsyet | tet | bend; break (v.t.) |
說文解字
《說文》：“折，斷也。从斤斷艸，譚長說。，籀文折，从艸在仌中，仌寒，故折。𣂚，篆文折，从手。”
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)
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Sound (0 of 1 verified)
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | |
|---|---|---|
| Zhengzhang | kʰoːʔ | |
| kʰoːs | ||
| Unicode | kǒu | |
| kòu |
說文解字
牽馬也。从手口聲。
Sources
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Zhengzhang Shangfang
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)