书写
shū​xiě HSK7

write

书 shū book Simplified

Simplified form of 書. Phonosemantic compound. 聿 represents the meaning and 者 represents the sound. The simplified character 书 is derived from the cursive form of 書.

Components

聿
聿 MeaningSimplified component
yù writing brush
者
者 SoundSimplified component
zhě one who...
Change in sound

Sources

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

写 xiě write Simplified

Original meaning: relocate

Phonosemantic compound. 宀 represents the meaning and 舄 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "relocate". The meaning later shifted to "copy" and "write". The simplified character 写 was adapted from the cursive form of the traditional character 寫.

Components

冖
冖 Meaning component
mì cover

冖 is a component form of 宀.

Change in meaning
冖 hints at the original meaning of 写, "relocate", which is no longer the most common meaning of 写 in modern Mandarin.
与
与 Simplified component
yǔ, yù and

Shorthand for the 舄 component in the traditional character 寫.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

泻

Sources

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

書 shū book Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 聿 represents the meaning and 者 represents the sound.

Components

聿
聿 Meaning component
yù writing brush
者
者 Sound component
zhě one who...
Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 者 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsyos-ta write

說文解字

《說文》：“書，箸也。从聿，者聲。”

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)

寫 xiě write Traditional

Original meaning: relocate

Phonosemantic compound. 宀 represents the meaning and 舄 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "relocate". The meaning later shifted to "copy" and "write".

Components

宀
宀 Meaning component
mián roof
Change in meaning
宀 hints at the original meaning of 寫, "relocate", which is no longer the most common meaning of 寫 in modern Mandarin.
舄
舄 Sound component
xì, què, tuō a shoe

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

瀉

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsjaeXs-qʰAʔ depict
sjaeXs-qʰAʔ drain off

說文解字

《說文》：“寫，置物也。从宀，舄聲。”

Sources

Character origin
Wiktionary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)