Simplified
Original meaning: very peaceful and happy
Depicts putting something sweet in the mouth (甘) with a spoon. Based on the original meaning "very peaceful and happy". The meaning later shifted to "excessive" "extremely".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | dzyimX | [t.ɢ][ə]mʔ | excessive, very |
| dzyimH | [t.ɢ][ə]mʔ-s | excessive |
說文解字
《說文》：“甚，尤安樂也。从甘，从匹。耦也。，古文甚。”
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)
Traditional
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Old Chinese | |
|---|---|
| Zhengzhang | maːlʔ |
說文解字
《說文》：“麼，細也，从幺麻聲。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Zhengzhang Shangfang
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)