公共设施 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

gōng public

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

八 Iconic component

bā eight

Depicts handles of a jar.

口 Iconic component

kǒu, kou mouth

Depicts the opening of a jar.

Change in form

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 口 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Sound (5 of 14 verified)

容松讼翁颂瓮蚣衮忪袞頌訟鈆彸

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)

gòng together with

Pictograph of two hands holding up a vessel.

Components

◎ Iconic component

characterless component

Depicts a vessel being held up.

廾 Iconic component

gǒng two hands

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

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)

shè build Simplified

Depicts the process of setting something up using speech (讠) and a tool (殳).

Components

讠 Meaning component

yán speech

讠 is a component form of 言.

殳 Meaning component

shū weapon or tool

Depicts a hand holding a tool.

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode

shī grant, bestow

Phonosemantic compound. 㫃 represents the meaning and 也 represents the sound.

Components

㫃 Meaning component

yǎn flags flying

也 Sound component

yě also

Change in sound

施 and 也 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
施 *l̥aj
也 *lAjʔ

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

暆

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	sye	l̥aj	give, bestow

說文解字

《說文》：“施，旗皃。从，也聲。亝欒施字子旗，知施者旗也。”

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)

shè build, set up Traditional

Depicts the process of setting something up using speech (言) and a tool (殳).

Components

言 Meaning component

yán speech

殳 Meaning component

shū weapon or tool

Depicts a hand holding a tool.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	syet	ŋ̊et	set up

說文解字

《說文》：“設，施陳也。从言，从殳。殳，使人也。”

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)

公 gōng public

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (5 of 14 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

共 gòng together with

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (4 of 15 verified)

Iconic (1)

Meaning (1)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

设 shè build Simplified

Components

Sources

施 shī grant, bestow

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

設 shè build, set up Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

gōng public

gòng together with

shè build Simplified

shī grant, bestow

shè build, set up Traditional