Original meaning: armless child
Pictograph of a young child, similar to 子, but without arms. Compare to 孑 (child only with right arm) and 孓 (child only with left arm). The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | |
|---|---|---|
| Zhengzhang | reːwʔ | |
| Unicode | leǔ | |
| leǔ |
說文解字
《說文》：“了，尦也。从子無臂，象形。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.972
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Zhengzhang Shangfang
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Simplified
Original meaning: retreat, withdraw
Phonosemantic compound. 卩 represents the meaning and 去 represents the sound. Simplified form of 卻.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Sound (1)
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | khjak | [k]ʰak | decline, refuse |
說文解字
《說文》：“卻，節欲也。从卪，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)
Origin unclear. Two possible explanations are (1) depicts a person (人) stopping (止), meaning "here", and (2) depicts a foot (止) kicking a person (人), based on an earlier meaning "to kick" (跐).
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | tshjeX | [tsʰ]e(j)ʔ | this |
說文解字
《說文》：“此，止也。从止，从匕。匕，相比次也。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.119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)
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | sraeng | sreŋ (MC srj- > sr-; or *s.reŋ ?) | bear, be born; live |
| sraeng | sreŋ | fresh, raw | |
| srjaeng | sreŋ (or *s.reŋ ?) | bear, be born; live |
說文解字
《說文》：“生，進也。象艸木生出土上。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.506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
Original meaning: retreat, withdraw
Phonosemantic compound. 卩 represents the meaning and 谷 represents the sound.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Sound (1)
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | khjak | [k]ʰak | decline, refuse |
說文解字
《說文》：“卻，節欲也。从卪，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)