伽利略·伽利雷
Jiā​lì​lüè​· Jiā​lì​léi

Galileo Galilei

伽 jiā, qié, gā transcription of sanskrit 'gha' in buddhist texts ('samgha'

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

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

加
加 Sound component
jiā add

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangɡa
ɡal
Unicodeghia

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

利 lì, li benefit

Depicts harvesting grain (禾) with a blade (刂). Harvest was the main source of profit in agricultural societies.

Components

禾
禾 Iconic component
hé grain stalk
刂
刂 Iconic component
dāo knife

刂 is a component form of 刀.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 11 verified)

黎莉梨犁俐痢蜊猁脷唎悧

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

悧

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartlijHC.ri[t]-s sharp; profit

說文解字

《說文》：“利，銛也。从刀；和然後利，从和省。《易》曰：‘利者，義之和也。’”

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)

略 lüè outline, approximately

Original meaning: demarcate land boundaries

Phonosemantic compound. 田 represents the meaning and 各 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "demarcate land boundaries". The meaning later shifted to "outline" and "approximately".

Components

田
田 Meaning component
tián field
Change in meaning
田 hints at the original meaning of 略, "demarcate land boundaries", which is no longer the most common meaning of 略 in modern Mandarin.
各
各 Sound component
gè each
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartljak[r]ak draw a boundary; outline

說文解字

《說文》：“略，經略土地也。从田，各聲。”

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)

雷 léi thunder

Depicts rain (雨) and lightning (申) together.

Components

雨
雨 Iconic component
yǔ rain
申
申 Iconic component
shēn to extend

Depicts a lightning bolt. Modern form looks like unrelated 田.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 申 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
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 Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 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
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 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 Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 4 verified)

蕾擂镭檑

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartlwojC.rˤuj thunder

說文解字

《說文》：“靁，陰陽薄動，靁雨生物者也，从雨，畾象回轉形。，古文靁。，古文靁。，籀文，靁間有回，回，靁聲也。”

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)