今日事今日毕
jīn​rì​shì​jīn​rì​bì

finish today's tasks

今 jīn now

Original meaning: closed mouth

Depicts a closed mouth. Upside-down 曰. The meaning "now" is a phonetic loan.

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 Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (10 of 20 verified)

金念含琴贪吟禽岑矜黔芩陰钤衾妗钅衿貪釒侌

Remnant (2)

金釒

Iconic (2)

贪貪

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkim[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)

日 rì sun

Pictograph of the sun.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
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 Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 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 Qin 221-206 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (36 of 97 verified)

时早显星普晚习景暗春映暂晓晨昨昏晋暖晃昂晴昭旺晰旬昧隙旱晒晤旷暑暇暮晌旭榻晦曙曝晖曦暧晏暄晾昊昵曜杳晁晔昱暹晗昕杲昶昀晟昴暌晷炅曛曩暝暾習晡旰暡尞暉昫昬暱曖曉暫暋昉暆晝暠時晬旲晉旹曆曠曄曚氜曬昇

Iconic (19)

间朝莫暴旦昌晶晕昔昙間昃眾暈妟㬎衆曇昜

Unknown (0 of 4 verified)

塌鳎溻褟

Sound (0 of 4 verified)

蹋遢汨圼

Deleted (2)

习夏

Simplified (1)

阳

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartnyitC.nik sun; day

說文解字

《說文》：“日，實也，太陽之精不虧。从囗、一，象形。日說文古文，古文，象形。”

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)

事 shì, shi matter

The characters 史 (history), 吏 (government official), 使 (cause; use; instruct), and 事 (matter; work; affair) are all etymologically related and all derive from the same ancient character, depicting a hand (又) holding a container for writing utensils. 事 and 史 were originally written the same, but later an extra mark was added to distinguish them.

Components

◎
◎ Distinguishing component
characterless component

Mark added to distinguish 事 from 史.

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a container for writing utensils.

又
又 Iconic component
yòu hand

Depicts a hand.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdzriH[m-s-]rəʔ-s serve; service, affair

說文解字

《說文》：“事，職也。从史，之省聲。，古文事。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.214
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

毕 bì finish Simplified

Simplified form of 畢. 比 represents the sound. The bottom component is a remnant from the traditional character 畢.

Components

比
比 Sound component
bǐ to compare
𠦒
𠦒 SimplifiedRemnant component
bān net for catching birds or rabbits

Remnant from the 𠦒 component in the traditional character 畢.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 4 verified)

跸哔荜筚

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

畢 bì finish Traditional

Original meaning: hunting net

Depicts a of hunting net (𠦒) used in a field (田) to catch birds or rabbits. Based on the original meaning "hunting net". The meaning later shifted to "finish".

Components

田
田 Iconic component
tián field
𠦒
𠦒 Iconic component
bān net for catching birds or rabbits

Depicts a net with a handle for catching birds or rabbits.


Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

篳嗶蓽

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpjitpi[t] wooden fork
pjitpi[t] bird-net
pjitpi[t] finish (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“畢，田罔也。从，象畢形微也。或曰甶聲。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.313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)