励精图治
lì​jīng​tú​zhì

strive to govern well

励 lì strive Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 力 represents the meaning and 厉 represents the sound. Simplified form of 勵.

Components

厉
厉 Sound component
lì whetstone
力
力 SoundMeaning component
lì, li power

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

精 jīng essence

Phonosemantic compound. 米 represents the meaning and 青 represents the sound.

Components

米
米 Meaning component
mǐ rice
青
青 Sound component
qīng green or blue

Character Evolution

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
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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsjengtseŋ fine rice; pure

說文解字

《說文》：“精，擇也。从米，青聲。”

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)

图 tú map Simplified

Simplified form of 圖. Depicts a map of city boundaries (囗) and places outside the city boundaries (啚).

Components

囗
囗 Iconic component
wéi, guó surround

Depicts walls of a city.

冬
冬 Simplified component
dōng winter

Shorthand for the 啚 component in the traditional character 圖.

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

治 zhì govern

Original meaning: river in Shandong

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 台 represents the sound. Originally referred to a river in Shandong province. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

台
台 Sound component
tái platform
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdriC.lrə regulate, arrange
driHlrə-s regulate, arrange

說文解字

《說文》：“治，水。出東萊曲城陽丘山，南入海。从水，台聲。”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

勵 lì strive Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 力 represents the meaning and 厲 represents the sound.

Components

厲
厲 Sound component
lì whetstone
力
力 SoundMeaning component
lì, li power

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangm·rads

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

圖 tú map Traditional

Depicts a map of city boundaries (囗) and places outside the city boundaries (啚).

Components

囗
囗 Iconic component
wéi, guó surround

Depicts walls of a city.

啚
啚 Iconic component
bǐ, tú remote place

Depicts a granary outside city walls.


Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdu[d]ˤa consider

說文解字

《說文》：“圖，畫計難也。从口，从啚。啚，難意也。”

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)