Original meaning: hat
Pictograph of a hat over an eye. Based on the original meaning "hat". The meaning later shifted to "cover", "feign", "offend", and "risk".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | mawH | mˤuk-s | to look down on; covetous |
| mawH | mˤuk-s | covering |
說文解字
《說文》：“冒，冡而前也。从冃，从目。，古文冒。”
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: leisure; carefree
Depicts a person with their hair loose. Based on the original meaning "leisure; carefree", now written as 佚. The meaning later shifted to "lose" and "fail".
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | syit | l̥i[t] | lose |
說文解字
《說文》：“失，縱也。从手，乙聲。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 何景成《甲骨文字詁林補編》p.26黃德寬《古文字譜系疏證》p.3349
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Pictograph of a person (人) with the head of a ghost/demon (甶). 厶 was later added as a decorative mark.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | kjw+jX | k-ʔujʔ | ghost |
說文解字
《說文》：“鬼，人所歸為鬼。从人，象鬼頭。鬼陰氣賊害，从厶。，古文从示。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 林志強《《文源》評注》p.4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)