刀剑
dāo​jiàn

sword

刀 dāo knife

Pictograph of a knife.

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 Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Iconic (12)

方分解绝初亡勿刃絕叚𢇍刅

Meaning (3 of 5 verified)

切券剪劈㓞

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

召叨忉

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttawC.tˤaw knife

說文解字

《說文》：“刀，兵也。象形。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.352
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

剑 jiàn sword Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 刂 represents the meaning and 佥 represents the sound. Simplified form of 劍.

Components

佥
佥 Sound component
qiān together
刂
刂 Meaning component
dāo knife

刂 is a component form of 刀.

Sources

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

劍 jiàn sword Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 刂 represents the meaning and 僉 represents the sound.

Components

僉
僉 Sound component
together
刂
刂 Meaning component
dāo knife

刂 is a component form of 刀.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 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 Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkjaemHs.kr[a]m-s sword

說文解字

《說文》：“劒，人所帶兵也。从刃，僉聲。劍，籀文劒从刀。”

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)