Original meaning: break apart
歹 depicts a wooden post with a cracked bottom and 刂 depicts a knife. Both used to convey the original meaning "break apart". 歹 also represents the sound. The meaning later shifted to "arrange in order" and "list".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | ljet | [r][e]t | tear apart; rank |
說文解字
《說文》：“列，分解也。从刀，聲。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.355
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Original meaning: damaged object
Phonosemantic compound. 缶 represents the meaning and 夬 represents the sound.
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | khwet | Nə-[k]ʷʰˤet | break; defective |
說文解字
《說文》：“缺，器破也。从缶，決省聲。”
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)