Original meaning: to embrace
Depicts a person (勹) hugging a child (子). Based on the original meaning "to embrace", now written as 抱. The meaning later shifted to "cover" and "wrap".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | paew | pˤ<r>u | wrap, bundle |
說文解字
《說文》：“包，象人褢妊，巳在中，象子未成形也。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 谢明文《释甲骨文中的“抱”——兼论“包”字》
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Traditional
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | hjw+j | [ɢ]ʷə[j] | surround |
說文解字
《說文》：“圍，守也。从囗，韋聲。”
Sources
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)