Original meaning: pure jade
Depicts jade (玉) that is entirely pure and flawless. Based on the original meaning "pure jade". The meaning later shifted to "complete" and "entire".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | dzjwen | [dz]o[n] | complete (adj.) |
說文解字
《說文》：“，完也。从入，从工。全，篆文从玉。純玉曰全。，古文仝。”
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)
Phonosemantic compound. 禾 represents the sound and 斗 represents the meaning. Depicts measuring out grain (禾) with a dipper (斗).
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Sound (0 of 1 verified)
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | |
|---|---|---|
| Zhengzhang | kʰoːl | |
| kʰoːls | ||
| Unicode | kuɑ |
說文解字
《說文》：“科，程也。从禾，从斗。斗者，量也。”
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)
Simplified
Original meaning: quiver
Originally depicted a quiver, a container for arrows. Later repurposed to mean "medicine" as a simplified form of the traditional character 醫.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Sound (1)
Historical Pronunciations
| Old Chinese | |
|---|---|
| Zhengzhang | qiːs |
說文解字
《說文》：“医，盛弓弩矢器也。从匸，从矢。”
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)
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | sraeng | sreŋ (MC srj- > sr-; or *s.reŋ ?) | bear, be born; live |
| sraeng | sreŋ | fresh, raw | |
| srjaeng | sreŋ (or *s.reŋ ?) | bear, be born; live |
說文解字
《說文》：“生，進也。象艸木生出土上。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.506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
Phonosemantic compound. 酉 represents the meaning and 殹 represents the sound. The 酉 component is a pictograph of a container for wine, which is sometimes used for medicinal purposes.
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Old Chinese | |
|---|---|
| Zhengzhang | qɯ |
說文解字
《說文》：“醫，治病工也。殹，惡姿也，醫之性然。得酒而使。从酉。王育說。一曰殹，病聲。酒，所以治病也。《周禮》有醫酒。古者巫彭初作醫。”
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)