不服水土
bù​fú​shuǐ​tǔ

unacclimatized

不 bù, bu no

Original meaning: sepals

Pictograph of sepals of a flower. The modern meaning "no" is a phonetic loan.

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
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 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 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 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 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 (3 of 5 verified)

否杯钚罘盃

Simplified (4)

还环怀坏

Meaning (1 of 4 verified)

否歪甭孬

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpjuwpə not
pjuwpə 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)

服 fú, fu clothes

Original meaning: submit, serve

Combination of 凡 (plate) and subdue (𠬝). Based on the original meaning "serve" or "submit". 凡 alludes to serving a plate.

Components

凡
凡 Meaning component
fán all

Depicts a plate.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 凡 than it was in ancient scripts.
𠬝
𠬝 SoundMeaning component
fú subdue

Depicts a kneeling person being subdued.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Eastern Han 25-220 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 (0 of 1 verified)

菔

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartbjuwk[b]ək quiver (n.)
bjuwk[b]ək garment; wear (v.)
bjuwk[b]ək subdue, submit
bjuwX[b]əʔ box of a carriage

說文解字

《說文》：“服，用也。一曰車右騑，所以舟旋。从舟，聲。，古文服，从人。”

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)

水 shuǐ water

Depicts the flow of water in a river.

Character Evolution

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 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 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

Meaning (4 of 14 verified)

冰浆汞泵颍滕淼荥凼氽汆滎氹漿

Iconic (8)

益泰泉尿沓盥彔眔

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsywijXs.turʔ (E dialect: *-r > *-j)water; river

說文解字

《說文》：“水，準也。北方之行。象眾水並流，中有微陽之气也。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.795
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

土 tǔ earth

Depicts a lump of dirt on the ground.

Character Evolution

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 Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Spring and Autumn 771-476 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (51 of 186 verified)

地里场社基城增型境坚压块坏野域均堂坦庄塔徒塞埃培堆壁墨堡坡垂埋尘坛堪墓址填疆塑圳坑坠堵垄坟壤垒塘坎堤塌坊垫垃圾堕垮灶坪坝垣墟垦壕埔坞垢堑埠堰坍墩坯塾坷壑坂垛圪埂圩垠墒坳埽垩圻壅垅堋垭堀圮埙坨垡茔墉墀堞塬垴垓垧墼坩坼塄垆坻圯圹埚堙坌塍埒瘗埝垸墁埸埤埯埘坭埴堍垤埕埭圬堠埏坜坫陞墚坶塥垲垌壟塕塲墊塚塋塹塊厓墜壢塢埗堿塗墾壩圼毀墻塡埇場埰埄垚埡垯墮壓壞堅垔堃堊埲塵坒壇埼坴墳埵壘

Sound (3 of 10 verified)

社徒杜吐肚墅坤钍芏圤

Iconic (7 of 8 verified)

坐廛圥𡈼埶堯隓對

Simplified (2)

圣墙

Unknown (1)

𤕦

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartthuXtʰˤaʔ earth

說文解字

《說文》：“土，地之吐生物者也。二象地之下、地之中物出形也。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.906
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)