初学者 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

chūxuézhě

beginner

chū beginning

Depicts cutting out fabric (衤) with a knife (刀), the first step in making clothes.

Components

衤 Iconic component

yī clothes

衤 is a component form of 衣.

刀 Iconic component

dāo knife

Character Evolution

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze 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 Shuowen ~100 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Qin 221-206 BC

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tsrhjo	[ts]ʰra	beginning

說文解字

《說文》：“初，始也。从刀，从衣。裁衣之始也。”

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)

xué learning Simplified

Simplified form of 學. Depicts two hands (𦥑) teaching a child (子) under a roof (宀). 爻 represents the sound.

Components

◎ Simplified component

characterless component

Shorthand for the 𦥑 and 爻 components in the traditional character 學.

宀 Iconic component

mián roof

子 Iconic component

zi, zǐ child

Component uses

Sound (1)

Remnant (1)

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

zhě one who...

Original meaning: paper mulberry

Pictograph of a tree with paper mulberry leaves, now written as 楮. The distinguishing mark 口 was added later. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

◎ Iconic component

characterless component

Depicts a tree with paper mulberry leaves. Original form of 楮.

口 Distinguishing component

kǒu, kou mouth

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Warring States 475-221 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Warring States ~400 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 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 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

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Component uses

Sound (14 of 28 verified)

着都书著诸署绪猪赌屠堵睹煮奢暑褚赭渚箸锗楮翥諸豬緒書賭啫 show all 28 show fewer

Simplified (1)

Iconic (1)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tsyaeX	tAʔ	(nominalizing particle)

說文解字

《說文》：“者，別事詞也。从白，聲。，古文旅字。”

Sources

Character origin: 林志強《《文源》評注》p.524-525李学勤《字源》p.290
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

xué learning Traditional

Depicts two hands (𦥑) teaching a child (子) under a roof (宀). 爻 represents the sound.

Components

𦥑 Iconic component

jú, jǔ, póu two hands

Depicts two hands.

爻 Sound component

yáo, xiào diagrams for divination

Change in sound

學 and 爻 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Middle Chinese.
學 haewk
爻 haew

宀 Iconic component

mián roof

Depicts a roof.

子 Iconic component

zi, zǐ child

Depicts a child.

Character Evolution

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

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 Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	haewk	m-kˤruk	study; imitate

說文解字

《說文》：“斆，覺悟也。从教，从冖，冖，尚矇也，臼聲。學，篆文斅省。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.247-248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)