不见棺材不落泪 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

bù, bu no

Original meaning: sepals

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

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Regular Modern

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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)

jiàn, xiàn, jian see Simplified

Simplified form of 見. Pictograph of a person (卩) using their eye (目) to see (見).

Components

目 Iconic Simplified component

mù eye

Depicts an eye.

卩 Iconic component

jié person kneeling

Depicts a person.

Change in form

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 卩 than it was in ancient scripts.

Component uses

Meaning (5 of 17 verified)

现规觉观视览觅觑觐觎觊靓岘觇觋觏觌

Sound (3 of 8 verified)

现舰砚苋笕岘蚬枧

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode

guān coffin

Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 官 represents the sound.

Components

木 Meaning component

mù tree

官 Sound component

guān official

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kwan	kʷˤa[n]	inner coffin
Zhengzhang		koːn
		koːns
Unicode	guɑn

說文解字

關也。所以掩尸。从木官聲。

Sources

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

cái, cai material

Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 才 represents the sound.

Components

木 Meaning component

mù tree

才 Sound component

cái, cai talent

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	dzoj	[dz]ˤə	timber

說文解字

《說文》：“材，木梃也。从木，才聲。”

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)

luò, là fall

Phonosemantic compound. 艹 represents the meaning and 洛 represents the sound.

Components

艹 Meaning component

cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸. Alludes to leaves falling from trees.

洛 Sound component

luò river in Shanxi province

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	lak	kə.rˤak	fall (v.)

說文解字

凡艸曰零，木曰落。从艸洛聲。

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)

lèi tears Simplified

Simplified form of 淚. Depicts drops of water (氵) coming from the eye (目).

Components

氵 Iconic component

shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

目 Iconic component

mù eye

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical images: Academia Sinica

jiàn, xiàn, jian see Traditional

Pictograph of a person (卩) using their eye (目) to see (見).

Components

目 Iconic component

mù eye

Depicts an eye.

卩 Iconic component

jié person kneeling

Depicts a person.

Change in form

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 卩 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Meaning (7 of 16 verified)

視覺觀規親覓覷覽覦靚覘覡覲峴覬現

Sound (2 of 5 verified)

靦莧峴硯現

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kenH	[k]ˤen-s	see (v.)
	henH	N-[k]ˤen-s	appear
	henH	m-[k]ˤen-s	cause to appear, introduce

說文解字

《說文》：“見，視也。从儿，从目。”

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)

lèi tears Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 戾 represents the sound.

Components

氵 Meaning component

shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

戾 Sound component

lì bend, violate, transgress

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	lwijH	[r][ə]p-s	tears (n.)

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica

不 bù, bu no

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (3 of 5 verified)

Simplified (4)

Meaning (1 of 4 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

见 jiàn, xiàn, jian see Simplified

Components

Component uses

Meaning (5 of 17 verified)

Sound (3 of 8 verified)

Sources

棺 guān coffin

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

材 cái, cai material

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

落 luò, là fall

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

泪 lèi tears Simplified

Components

Character Evolution

Sources

見 jiàn, xiàn, jian see Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Meaning (7 of 16 verified)

Sound (2 of 5 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

淚 lèi tears Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

bù, bu no

jiàn, xiàn, jian see Simplified

guān coffin

cái, cai material

luò, là fall

lèi tears Simplified

jiàn, xiàn, jian see Traditional

lèi tears Traditional