Original meaning: shoulder a burden
Depiction of a man carrying an axe on over his shoulders. The right side of the form was later phoneticized into 可. The current meaning "what" is a phonetic loan.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Sound (0 of 1 verified)
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | ha | [g]ˤaj | what |
說文解字
《說文》：“何，儋也。从人，可聲。”
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)
Simplified
Traditional
Original meaning: cold water
Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 兄 represents the sound.
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | xjwangH | [m̥]aŋ-s | compare with, be equal to |
| xjwangH | [m̥]aŋ-s | how much the more |
說文解字
《說文》：“況，寒水也。从水，兄聲。”
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)