Original meaning: closed mouth
Depicts a closed mouth. Upside-down 曰. The meaning "now" is a phonetic loan.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | kim | [k]r[ə]m | now |
說文解字
《說文》：“今，是時也。从亼，从乁。乁，古文及。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.440
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Simplified
Phonosemantic compound. 步 represents the meaning and 戉 represents the sound. The simplified character 岁 was adapted from the cursive form of the traditional character 歲.
Components
山 Simplified component
Shorthand for the 步 component in the traditional character 歲.
夕 Simplified component
Shorthand for the 戉 component in the traditional character 歲.
Traditional
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | sjwejH | s-qʷʰat-s | year |
說文解字
《說文》：“歲，木星也。越歷二十八宿，宣徧陰陽，十二月一次。从步，戌聲。律歷書名五星為五步。”
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)