The characters 史 (history), 吏 (government official), 使 (cause; use; instruct), and 事 (matter; work; affair) are all etymologically related and all derive from the same ancient character, depicting a hand (又) holding a container for writing utensils.
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | sriX | s-rəʔ | send; cause |
| sriH | s-rəʔ-s | envoy |
說文解字
《說文》：“使，伶也。从人，吏聲。”
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)
Original meaning: command
Phonosemantic compound. 口 represents the meaning and 令 represents the sound and meaning. Based on the original meaning "command". The meaning later shifted to "fate" and "life".
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | mjaengH | m-riŋ-s (dialect: *m-r- > *mr-, *-iŋ> *-eŋ) | command (n.) |
說文解字
《說文》：“命，使也。从口，从令。”
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)