他乡遇故知
tā​xiāng​yù​gù​zhī

unexpected reunion

他 tā he

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 也 represents the sound.

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

也
也 Sound component
yě also
Change in sound

Character Evolution

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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartthal̥ˤaj (E dialect: *l̥ˤ- > MC th-) another

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

乡 xiāng hometown Simplified

Simplified form of 鄉. Pictograph of two people facing each other, kneeling down to share a meal. Based on the original meaning "feast" or "offer food", now written as 饗. The meaning later shifted to "hometown". The right two components were removed for simplification.

Components

卩
卩 Iconic component
jié person kneeling

Depicts a kneeling person facing right.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 卩 than it was in ancient scripts.
鄉
飠 Deleted component
eat
鄉
卩 Deleted component
jié person kneeling

Depicts a kneeling person facing left.

Component uses

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

飨芗

Simplified (0 of 1 verified)

芗

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

遇 yù meet

Phonosemantic compound. 辶 represents the meaning and 禺 represents the sound.

Components

辶
辶 Meaning component
chuò walk

辶 is a component form of 辵.

禺
禺 Sound component
yú, yù, ǒu district

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Jin 266-420 AD
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 Eastern Han 25-220 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-SagartngjuHŋ(r)o-s meet with

說文解字

逢也。从辵禺聲。

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)

故 gù incident, happening, cause

Phonosemantic compound. 攵 represents the meaning and 古 represents the sound.

Components

古
古 Sound component
gǔ old
攵
攵 Meaning component
pū tap

攵 is a component form of 攴.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkuHkˤa(ʔ)-s fact; reason
kuHkˤaʔ-s old (not new)

說文解字

《說文》：“故，使為之也。从攴，古聲。”

Sources

Character origin
李学勤《字源》p.250
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

知 zhī know

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

Components

口
口 Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth

Transfer of knowledge is done through speech.

矢
矢 Sound component
shǐ arrow

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 5 verified)

智痴蜘踟椥

Meaning (1)

智

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttrjetre know

說文解字

《說文》：“知，詞也。从口，从矢。”

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)

鄉 xiāng hometown Traditional

Original meaning: feast, offer food

Pictograph of two people facing each other, kneeling down to share a meal. Based on the original meaning "feast" or "offer food", now written as 饗. The meaning later shifted to "hometown".

Components

卩
卩 Iconic component
jié person kneeling

Depicts a kneeling person facing right.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 卩 than it was in ancient scripts.
飠
飠 Iconic component
eat
卩
卩 Iconic component
jié person kneeling

Depicts a kneeling person facing left.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 卩 than it was in ancient scripts.

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
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 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 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 4 verified)

響嚮薌饗

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartxjangqʰaŋ village; district
xjangXqʰaŋʔ feast
xjangHqʰaŋ-s to face

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica