Original meaning: earthen jar
Pictograph of a earthen jar for holding liquid, now written as 瓮. The current meaning "public" is a phonetic loan.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | kuwng | C.qˤoŋ | impartial, just; public |
| kuwng | C.qˤoŋ | father; prince |
說文解字
《說文》：“公，平分也。从八、从厶。八，猶背也。韓非曰：‘背厶為公’。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.86-87
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Pictograph of two hands holding up a vessel.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | gjowngH | N-k(r)oŋʔ-s | together, all |
說文解字
《說文》：“共，同也。从廿、廾。，古文共。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫裘錫圭 "Chinese Writing" p.189
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | |
|---|---|---|
| Zhengzhang | l'iɡ | |
| Unicode | djhit |
說文解字
積也。从禾失聲。《詩》曰：“䆅之秩秩。”
Sources
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Zhengzhang Shangfang
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Original meaning: walls at side of palace
Phonosemantic compound. 广 represents the meaning and 予 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "walls at side of palace". The meaning later shifted to "order" and "sequence".
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | zjoX | [sə.l]aʔ | walls at side of palace |
說文解字
《說文》：“序，東西牆也。从广，予聲。”
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)