出发点 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

chū go out

Pictograph of a foot (止) exiting a cave (凵).

Components

止 Iconic component

zhǐ (foot), stop

Depicts a foot.

Change in form

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

凵 Iconic component

qiǎn, kǎn enclosure

Depicts a cave.

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

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

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tsyhwit	t-kʰut	go or come out
	tsyhwijH	t-kʰut-s	bring or take out

說文解字

《說文》：“出，進也。象艸木益滋上出達也。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.501-502
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

fā, fa, fà issue Simplified

Simplified form of both 發 (send out) and 髮 (hair). Visually similar to 犮, the bottom component of 髮.

Component uses

Sound (2 of 4 verified)

废泼酦袯

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

拨

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

diǎn dot Simplified

Simplified form of 點. Phonosemantic compound. 黑 represents the meaning and 占 represents the sound.

Components

占 Sound component

zhàn divine

Change in sound

点 and 占 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
点 *tˤemʔ
占 *tem

灬 Meaning Simplified component

biāo, huǒ fire

Simplified from the 黑 (black) component in the traditional character 點.

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

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

fā, fa, fà send out Traditional

Depicts a hand pulling back an arrow (殳) in a bow (弓). 癶 represents the sound.

Components

癶 Sound component

bō legs

Change in sound

發 and 癶 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
發 *Cə.pat
癶 paːd

弓 Iconic component

gōng bow

Depicts a bow.

殳 Iconic component

shū weapon or tool

Depicts a hand pulling an arrow.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (2 of 3 verified)

醱廢潑

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

撥

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	pjot	Cə.pat	fly forth, send forth

說文解字

《說文》：“發，發也。从弓，癹聲。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.880-881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)

diǎn dot Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 黑 represents the meaning and 占 represents the sound.

Components

黑 Meaning component

hēi black

占 Sound component

zhàn divine

Change in sound

點 and 占 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
點 *tˤemʔ
占 *tem

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	temX	tˤemʔ	black spot

說文解字

《說文》：“點，小黑也。从黑，占聲。”

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)

出 chū go out

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (2 of 9 verified)

Meaning (2 of 4 verified)

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

发 fā, fa, fà issue Simplified

Component uses

Sound (2 of 4 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Sources

点 diǎn dot Simplified

Components

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

發 fā, fa, fà send out Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (2 of 3 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

點 diǎn dot Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

chū go out

fā, fa, fà issue Simplified

diǎn dot Simplified

fā, fa, fà send out Traditional

diǎn dot Traditional