kǎi​qiè

earnest

kǎi, āi sharpen Simplified

Components

Sound component
victorious music, happy
Meaning component
dāo knife

knife

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

qiè, qiē cut

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Sound component
seven
Meaning component
dāo knife

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 4 verified)

Meaning (1 of 2 verified)

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

sharpen Traditional

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangkŋɯːl
ŋɯːl

說文解字

大鎌也。一曰摩也。从刀豈聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica