Pictograph of a mouth on top of a person, representing an older brother giving orders.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | xjwaeng | m̥raŋ | elder brother |
說文解字
《說文》：“兄，長也。从儿，从口。”
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: order
Pictograph of a rope neatly wrapped around a weapon handle. Based on the original meaning "orderly". The meaning later shifted to "next in sequence" (now written as 第) and "younger brother".
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | dejX | lˤəjʔ | younger brother |
說文解字
《說文》：“弟，韋束之次弟也。从古字之象。，古文弟，从古文韋省，丿聲。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.477-478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)
Traditional
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | xek | [ŋ̊ ]ˤek | wrangle |
| Zhengzhang | ɦŋeːɡ |
說文解字
恆訟也。《詩》云：“兄弟鬩于牆。”从鬥从兒。兒，善訟者也。
Sources
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Traditional
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | |
|---|---|---|
| Zhengzhang | zaŋ | |
| Unicode | dzhiɑng |
說文解字
《說文》：“牆，垣蔽也。从嗇，爿聲。，籀文从二禾；，籀文亦从二來。”
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)