不辞劳苦
bù​cí​láo​kǔ

spare no effort

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)

辞 cí words Simplified

Simplified form of 辭. Alludes to a governance (𤔔) dispute related to criminal law (辛). Based on the original meaning "litigation". The meaning later shifted to "words".

Components

舌
舌 Simplified component
shé tongue

Shorthand for the 𤔔 component in the traditional character 亂.

辛
辛 Meaning component
xīn laborious

Character Evolution

Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Sources

Character origin
李学勤《字源》p.1277
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical images
Academia Sinica

劳 láo labor Simplified

Simplified form of 勞. Depicts the hard work of sewing clothes (衣) with only firelight (炏). Later the 力 (strength, power) component was added.

Components

艹
艹 Simplified component
cao, cǎo grass

Shorthand for the 炏 (flame) component in the traditional character 勞.

衣
衣 IconicRemnant component
yī clothes
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 衣 than it was in ancient scripts.
力
力 Meaning component
lì, li power

Component uses

Sound (0 of 7 verified)

捞唠涝崂痨耢铹

Sources

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

苦 kǔ bitter

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

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

古
古 Sound component
gǔ old

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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 (0 of 1 verified)

楛

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

楛

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkhuXkʰˤaʔ bitter

說文解字

大苦，苓也。从艸古聲。

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)

辭 cí words Traditional

Original meaning: litigation

Alludes to a governance (𤔔) dispute related to criminal law (辛). Based on the original meaning "litigation". The meaning later shifted to "words".

Components

𤔔
𤔔 Meaning component
luàn (untangle threads), to govern
辛
辛 Meaning component
xīn laborious

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartzisə.lə words

說文解字

《說文》：“辭，訟也。从，猶理辜也。，理也。，籀文辭从司。”

Sources

Character origin
李学勤《字源》p.1277
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

勞 láo labor Traditional

Depicts the hard work of sewing clothes (衣) with only firelight (炏). Later the 力 (strength, power) component was added.

Components

炏
炏 Iconic component
yán, kài flame
衣
衣 IconicRemnant component
yī clothes
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 衣 than it was in ancient scripts.
力
力 Meaning component
lì, li power

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Spring and Autumn ~600 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 Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 5 verified)

撈澇嘮嶗癆

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartlaw[r]ˤaw toil
lawH[r]ˤaw-s to reward for toil

說文解字

《說文》：“勞，劇也。从力，熒省。熒火燒冂，用力者勞。，古文勞从悉。”

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)