分解作用
fēn​jiě​zuò​yòng

decomposition

分 fēn, fèn, fen divide

Depicts a knife (刀) being used to cut two things apart (八).

Components

八
八 SoundIconic component
bā eight

Depicts two things being separated.

Change in sound
刀
刀 Iconic component
dāo knife

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 Western Han 202 BC-9 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (6 of 23 verified)

份纷贫粉芬扮氛盆盼吩颁忿汾酚玢棼邠坌貧鼢紛頒棻

Meaning (0 of 6 verified)

贫颁岔掰貧頒

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpjunpə[n] divide
bjunH[m]-pə[n]-s alloted duty

說文解字

《說文》：“分，別也。从八，从刀，刀以分別物也。”

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)

解 jiě divide

Depicts separating (解) the horns (角) from a cow (牛) using a knife (刀).

Components

角
角 Iconic component
jiǎo, jué horn
刀
刀 Iconic component
dāo knife
牛
牛 Iconic component
niú cow

Character Evolution

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 Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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

Sound (0 of 6 verified)

懈蟹邂獬廨澥

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkeaXkˤreʔ cut up; unloose
heaXN-kˤreʔ understand
heaXN-kˤreʔ #NAME?

說文解字

《說文》：“解，判也。从刀判牛角。一曰解廌，獸也。”

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)

作 zuò make

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

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

乍
乍 Sound component
zhà, zuò suddenly
Change in sound

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 Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 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
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 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)

做

Meaning (1)

做

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsak[ts]ˤak do, work
tsuH[ts]ˤak-s do, work

說文解字

《說文》：“作，起也。从人，从乍。”

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)

用 yòng, yong use

Original meaning: bucket

Depicts a bucket with a handle on the right side. Based on the original meaning "bucket". The meaning of this character has shifted over time and now means "use".

Character Evolution

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 Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 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
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 6 verified)

拥庸佣甬痈甯

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

佣甭

Iconic (1)

甫

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartyowngHloŋ-s use (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“用，可施行也。从卜，从中。衛宏說。，古文用。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.253-254漢語多功能字庫林志強《《文源》評注》p.367
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)