以逸待劳 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

yǐ by means of

Original meaning: carry

Depicts a person (人) carrying something.

Components

◎ Iconic component

characterless component

Depicts something being carried.

人 Iconic component

rén, ren person

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

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

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (2 of 4 verified)

似拟苡姒

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	yiX	ləʔ	take, use

說文解字

《說文》：“，用也。从反已。賈侍中說，已，意已實也。象形。”

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.980
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

yì flee

To run 辶 like a rabbit 兔

Components

辶 Meaning component

chuò walk

兔 Meaning component

tù rabbit

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	yit	[l]i[t]	flee
Zhengzhang		lid
Unicode	it

說文解字

失也。从辵、兔。兔謾訑善逃也。

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

dài wait, stay, treat

Phonosemantic compound. 彳 represents the meaning and 寺 represents the sound.

Components

彳 Meaning component

chì, fú walk

彳 is a component form of 行.

寺 Sound component

sì, shì temple

Change in sound

待 and 寺 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
待 *[d]ˤəʔ
寺 *s-[d]əʔ-s

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	dojX	[d]ˤəʔ	wait on; depend on

說文解字

《說文》：“待，竢也。从彳，寺聲。”

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)

láo labor Simplified

Simplified form of 勞. Depicts the hard work of sewing clothes (衣) with only firelight (炏). Later the 力 (strength, power) component was added.

Components

艹 Simplified component

cao, cǎo grass

Shorthand for the 炏 (flame) component in the traditional character 勞.

衣 Iconic Remnant component

yī clothes

Change in form

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

力 Meaning component

lì, li power

Component uses

Sound (0 of 7 verified)

捞唠涝崂痨耢铹

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode

láo labor Traditional

Depicts the hard work of sewing clothes (衣) with only firelight (炏). Later the 力 (strength, power) component was added.

Components

炏 Iconic component

yán, kài flame

衣 Iconic Remnant component

yī clothes

Change in form

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

力 Meaning component

lì, li power

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Sound (0 of 5 verified)

撈澇嘮嶗癆

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	law	[r]ˤaw	toil
	lawH	[r]ˤaw-s	to reward for toil

說文解字

《說文》：“勞，劇也。从力，熒省。熒火燒冂，用力者勞。，古文勞从悉。”

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)

以 yǐ by means of

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (2 of 4 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

逸 yì flee

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

待 dài wait, stay, treat

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

劳 láo labor Simplified

Components

Component uses

Sound (0 of 7 verified)

Sources

勞 láo labor Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (0 of 5 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

yǐ by means of

yì flee

dài wait, stay, treat

láo labor Simplified

láo labor Traditional