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)
Pictograph of a man with writing (possibly a tattoo) on his chest. In later scripts the writing was abbreviated to a dot or omitted altogether.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | mjun | mə[n] | ornate |
說文解字
《說文》：“文，錯畫也。象交文。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.706
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Simplified
Original meaning: warp thread
Simplified form of 經. Originally written 巠, which depicts weaving vertical (warp) threads on a loom. The 纟 (thread) component was added later. Based on the original meaning "warp thread". The meaning later expanded to "pass through", "regulate", and "classic books".
Components
Traditional
Original meaning: warp thread
Originally written 巠, which depicts weaving vertical (warp) threads on a loom. The 糹 (thread) component was added later. Based on the original meaning "warp thread". The meaning later expanded to "pass through", "regulate", and "classic books".
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | keng | k-lˤeŋ | loom; regulate; norm |
說文解字
《說文》：“經，織也。从糸，巠聲。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.804
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)