Original meaning: cut
Phonosemantic compound. 歬 represents the sound, and 刂 represents the meaning. Based on the original meaning "cut", now written as 剪. The current meaning "in front" is a phonetic loan.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | dzen | [dz]ˤen (~ *m-dzˤen) | before |
說文解字
《說文》：“歬，不行而進謂之歬。从止在舟上。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫The Outlier Linguistics Dictionary of Chinese Characters
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Pictograph of a mortar, a hollow vessel used to crush ingredients.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | gjuwX | C.[g]ʷəʔ | mortar |
說文解字
《說文》：“臼，舂也。古者掘地為臼，其後穿木石。象形，中米也。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.581
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Simplified
Components
𠚕 IconicSimplified component
Depicts a mouth full of teeth.
Traditional
Pictograph of a mouth full of teeth. The sound component 止 was added later.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | tsyhiX | t-[k]ʰə(ŋ)ʔ (or *t.ŋ̊əʔ) | front teeth |
說文解字
《說文》：“齒，口齗骨也。象口齒之形。止聲。，古文齒字。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.139
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)