伟士牌
Wěi​shì​pái

Vespa

伟 wěi great Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 韦 represents the sound. Simplified form of 偉.

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

韦
韦 Sound component
wéi, huí tanned leather

Sources

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

士 shì, shi scholar, soldier

Pictograph of the head of an axe. Used to represent a soldier.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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 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 3 verified)

在仕悫

Meaning (3)

壮毐壯

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdzriX[m-s-]rəʔ officer; gentleman

說文解字

《說文》：“士，事也。數始於一，終於十。从一，从十。孔子曰：‘推十合一為士。’”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.59-60
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

牌 pái signboard

Phonosemantic compound. 片 represents the meaning and 卑 represents the sound.

Components

片
片 Meaning component
piàn, piān slice
卑
卑 Sound component
bēi humble, inferior

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangbreː
breː

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

偉 wěi great Traditional

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

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

韋
韋 Sound component
(surround a city), tanned leather

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangɢʷɯlʔ

說文解字

《說文》：“偉，奇也。从人，韋聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)