九重霄
jiǔ​chóng​xiāo

ninth heaven

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)

重 zhòng, chóng heavy

Pictograph of a person (亻) carrying a heavy basket (東) on their back.

Components

亻
亻 Iconic component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

東
東 SoundIconic component
dōng east

Depicts a basket.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (6 of 8 verified)

董踵锺種腫衝鍾動

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

腫

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdrjowng[m]-troŋ repeat; double
drjowngXN-t<r>oŋʔ heavy
drjowngHN-t<r>oŋʔ-s weight (n.)

說文解字

《說文》：“重，厚也。从壬，東聲。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.657-658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)

霄 xiāo, xiào sky

To look like 肖 rain 雨; 肖 also provides the pronunciation

Components

雨
雨 Meaning component
yǔ rain
肖
肖 SoundMeaning component
xiào look like

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsjew[s]ewsleet
Zhengzhangsew
Unicodesiɛu

說文解字

雨䨘爲霄。从雨肖聲。齊語也。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)