凿壁偷光
záo​bì​tōu​guāng

study diligently

凿 záo chisel Simplified

Simplified from 鑿. Depicts a chisel (丵) fashioning an object with an opening (凵).

Components

凵
凵 IconicSimplified component
qiǎn, kǎn enclosure

Simplified from the 臼 component in traditional 鑿.

丵
丵 Iconic component
zhuó chisel
鑿
殳 Deleted component
shū weapon or tool
鑿
金 Deleted component
jīn metal

Sources

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

壁 bì wall

Phonosemantic compound. 土 represents the meaning and 辟 represents the sound.

Components

辟
辟 Sound component
pì, bì law
土
土 Meaning component
tǔ earth

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartpekC.pˤek house wall

說文解字

《說文》：“壁，垣也。从土，辟聲。”

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)

偷 tōu to steal

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 俞 represents the sound.

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

俞
俞 Sound component
yú, shù surname
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartthuwl̥ˤo steal

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

光 guāng light

Pictograph of fire on top of a person.

Components

火
火 Iconic component
huǒ fire
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 火 than it was in ancient scripts.
卩
卩 Iconic component
jié person kneeling

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
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 (0 of 6 verified)

晃恍胱觥咣桄

Meaning (1 of 3 verified)

辉耀輝

Iconic (2)

参參

Remnant (2)

参參

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkwangkʷˤaŋ light, brightness

說文解字

《說文》：“光，明也。从火在人上，光明意也。，古文。炗，古文。”

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)

鑿 záo chisel Traditional

Depicts using a chisel (丵), which is a metal (金) tool (殳), to fashion a mortar (臼).

Components

丵
丵 Iconic component
zhuó chisel
臼
臼 Iconic component
jiù mortar
殳
殳 Meaning component
shū weapon or tool
金
金 Meaning component
jīn metal

Character Evolution

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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdzak[dz]ˤawk chisel
dzowk[dz]ˤawk chisel

說文解字

《說文》：“鑿，穿木也。从金。省聲。”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)