九点
jiǔ​diǎn

nine o'clock

九 jiǔ nine

Original meaning: elbow

Depicts an elbow. Based on the original meaning "elbow", now written as 肘. The current meaning 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
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Spring and Autumn ~600 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 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 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 14 verified)

究仇轨旭鸠馗宄艽尻犰軌鳩鼽氿

Simplified (1)

杂

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkjuwX[k]uʔ nine

說文解字

《說文》：“九，陽之變也。象其屈曲究盡之形。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.952-953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)

点 diǎn dot Simplified

Simplified form of 點. Phonosemantic compound. 黑 represents the meaning and 占 represents the sound.

Components

占
占 Sound component
zhàn divine
Change in sound
灬
灬 MeaningSimplified component
biāo, huǒ fire

Simplified from the 黑 (black) component in the traditional character 點.

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

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

點 diǎn dot Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 黑 represents the meaning and 占 represents the sound.

Components

黑
黑 Meaning component
hēi black
占
占 Sound component
zhàn divine
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttemXtˤemʔ black spot

說文解字

《說文》：“點，小黑也。从黑，占聲。”

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)