yín, yóu to move on

Pictograph of a person carrying a burden or an axe on their shoulder. Same in origin to .

Components

Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts an axe or a burden.

Iconic component
rén, ren person

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 8 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhanglu
lum

說文解字

《說文》:“冘,淫淫,行貌。从人出冂。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.450-451
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

doubt

Pictograph of a person holding onto a staff, looking to the side with his mouth open, doubtful of which direction to go. The (foot) component was added later to indicate movement, and the component was added to hint at the sound.

Components

Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a person standing up, holding onto a staff, with their mouth open and looking to the side.

Sound component
niú cow
Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.
Meaning component
zhǐ (foot)

is a component form of .

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 5 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartngi[ŋ](r)ə (< uvular)doubt

說文解字

《說文》:“疑,惑也。从子、止、匕,矢聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫李学勤《字源》p.1281
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica