Depicts a flagpole. There is a circle in the middle marking the center of the flagpole. In older forms of the character, the flagpole has streamers at the top and bottom used to show the direction of the wind.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | trjuwng | truŋ | center |
| trjuwngH | truŋ-s | hit the center |
說文解字
《說文》:“中,內也。从口、丨,上下通。,古文中。,籀文中。”
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 (1)
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | xojX | m̥ˤəʔ (dialect *m̥ˤ- > x-) | sea |
說文解字
《說文》:“海,天池也,以納百川者。从水,每聲。”
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)
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | yang | ɢ(r)aŋ | 'great expanse of water' |
說文解字
《說文》:“洋,水。出齊臨朐高山,東北入鉅定。从水,羊聲。”
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)
Pictograph of a musical stone chime. The 口 component was added later as a meaningless decorative mark.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | dzyek | dAk | stone |
說文解字
《說文》:“石,山石也。在厂之下,口象形。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.727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
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | yuw | [l][u] | flow(ing) |
說文解字
《說文》:“油,水。出武陵孱陵西,東南〔北〕入江。从水,由聲。”
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)
Simplified
Original meaning: earthen jar
Pictograph of a earthen jar for holding liquid, now written as 瓮. The current meaning "public" is a phonetic loan.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | kuwng | C.qˤoŋ | impartial, just; public |
| kuwng | C.qˤoŋ | father; prince |
說文解字
《說文》:“公,平分也。从八、从厶。八,猶背也。韓非曰:‘背厶為公’。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.86-87
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Depicts using a scepter and a mouth (口) to command or take control of something.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | si | s-lə | superintend |
說文解字
《說文》:“司,臣司事於外者。从反后。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.709
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Traditional
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | kwok | [C.q]ʷˤək | state (n.) |
說文解字
《說文》:“國,邦也。从囗,从或。”
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)
Traditional
Original meaning: bind together
Phonosemantic compound. 糹 represents the meaning and 悤 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "bind together", since thread (糹) is used to put things together.
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | tsuwng | [ts]ˤoŋ | bundle of threads |
| tsuwngX | [ts]ˤoŋ | bind together |
說文解字
《說文》:“總,聚束也。从糸,悤聲。”
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)