Simplified
Originally written as 惪, depicting a straight (直) heart (心). The 彳 (walk) component was added later.
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | tok | tˤək | virtue |
說文解字
《說文》：“德，升也。从彳，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)
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)
Original meaning: to finish sewing clothes
Depicts clothing (衣) with intersecting lines indicating that the clothing is done being sewed. Based on the original meaning, "to finish sewing clothes". The meaning later shifted to "to finish" and "to die" while its other meaning "soldier" is a phonetic loan.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | tswit | [ts]ut | finish, die |
| tswot | [ts]ˤut | soldier |
說文解字
《說文》：“卒，隸人給事者衣為卒。卒，衣有題識者。”
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
Originally written as 爲, which depicts a hand (又) guiding an elephant (象) to do work (in ancient China elephants were tamed to do work). Based on the meaning "to work; to do".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Sound (0 of 1 verified)
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | hjwe | ɢʷ(r)aj | make, do, act as |
| hjweH | ɢʷ(r)aj-s | for, because |
說文解字
《說文》：“爲，母猴也，其爲禽好爪，爪，母猴象也；下腹爲母猴形。王育曰：‘爪，象形也。’，古文爲，象兩母猴相對形。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.194
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)