Original meaning: tip, extremity
Depicts a rope with knots at both ends. Originally written as 𠂂. Based on the original meaning "tip, extremity", now written as 終. The meaning later shifted to "winter" (the final season of the year), in which the 冫 (ice) component was then added to reinforce the meaning.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | towng | tˤuŋ | winter |
說文解字
《說文》：“冬，四時盡也。从仌，从夂。夂，古文終字。，古文冬从日。”
Sources
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Pictograph of a person, represented by their head (頁) and feet (夂), being heated underneath the sun (日). The sun component was later omitted for brevity during the Warring States period.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | haeX | [ɢ]ˤraʔ | great |
| haeH | [g]ˤraʔ (~ *[g]ˤraʔ-s) | summer |
說文解字
《說文》：“夏，中國之人也。从夊、从頁、从。，兩手；夊，兩足也。，古文（夏）。”
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)