切磋
qiē​cuō

compare notes

切 qiè, qiē cut

Phonosemantic compound. 刀 represents the meaning and 七 represents the sound.

Components

七
七 Sound component
qī seven
刀
刀 Meaning component
dāo knife

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 4 verified)

彻窃砌沏

Meaning (1 of 2 verified)

彻砌

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttshet[tsʰ]ˤi[t] cut; urgent

說文解字

《說文》：“切，刌也。从刀，七聲。”

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)

磋 cuō polish

Phonosemantic compound. 石 represents the meaning and 差 represents the sound.

Components

石
石 Meaning component
shí stone
差
差 Sound component
chà, chā, chāi to differ

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsha[tsʰ]ˤajfile, polish (v.)
Zhengzhangsʰlaːl
Unicodetsɑ

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang