先兆
xiān​zhào

omen

先 xiān first

Depicts a person (人) stepping forward (止) leading the way.

Components

止
止 Iconic component
zhǐ (foot), stop

Depicts a foot stepping forward.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 止 than it was in ancient scripts.
人
人 Iconic component
rén, ren person
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 人 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (4 of 11 verified)

选洗宪酰诜铣跣冼筅銑兟

Meaning (1)

兟

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsensˤər first
senHsˤər-s go first

說文解字

《說文》：“先，前進也。从儿，从之。”

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)

兆 zhào omen

Original meaning: escape

Originally a pictograph of two people escaping a flood. Based on the original meaning "escape", now written as 逃. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Character Evolution

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
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 Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 14 verified)

逃跳挑桃姚眺晁窕洮鼗祧铫珧銚

Iconic (1)

逃

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdrjewXlr[a]wʔ great number

說文解字

《說文》：“，灼龜坼也。从卜、兆，象形。兆，古文兆省。”

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)