Original meaning: to behead someone
Depicts a weapon (戈) slashing a person's (亻) neck. Based on the original meaning "to behead someone". The meaning later shifted to "to attack" and "cut down".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | bjot | m-pat | cut; strike; attack |
說文解字
《說文》：“伐，擊也。从人持戈。一曰敗也。”
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)
Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 可 represents the sound. Originally a pictograph of an axe handle (丂).
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | ka | [k]ˤar | axe-handle |
說文解字
《說文》：“柯，斧柄也。从木，可聲。”
Sources
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)