五短身材 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

wǔduǎnshēncái

short-statured

wǔ five

Origin unclear. Originally an X-shape.

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 Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 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 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 Jin 266-420 AD

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	nguX	C.ŋˤaʔ	five

說文解字

《說文》：“五，五行也。从二。陰陽在天地間交午也。，古文五省。”

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)

duǎn short

Phonosemantic compound. 矢 represents the meaning and 豆 represents the sound.

Components

矢 Meaning component

shǐ arrow

豆 Sound component

dòu bean

Change in sound

短 and 豆 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
短 *tˤorʔ
豆 *[N.t]ˤo-s

Character Evolution

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

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	twanX	tˤorʔ	short

說文解字

《說文》：“短，有所長短，以矢為正。从矢，豆聲。”

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)

shēn body

Pictograph of a person with a protruding midsection.

Character Evolution

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 Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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 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

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Meaning (2 of 5 verified)

躺躲躯躬軀

Iconic (1)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	syin	n̥i[ŋ]	body; self

說文解字

《說文》：“身，躳也。象人之身。从人，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)

cái, cai material

Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 才 represents the sound.

Components

木 Meaning component

mù tree

才 Sound component

cái, cai talent

Character Evolution

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

Clerical form — Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	dzoj	[dz]ˤə	timber

說文解字

《說文》：“材，木梃也。从木，才聲。”

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)