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)
Pictograph of a hand (又) peeling off the skin from an animal.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | bje | m-[p](r)aj | skin |
說文解字
《說文》：“皮，剝取獸革者謂之皮。从又，為省聲。，古文皮。，籀文皮。”
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)
Simplified
Character Evolution
Component uses
說文解字
《說文》：“儿，仁人也。古文奇字人也。象形。孔子曰：在人下，故詰屈。”
Sources
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Traditional
Pictograph of a child (人) with an opening in the top of its head (囟). Represents the soft spot (fontanel) at the top of young infant heads. The 囟 component is written like 臼.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | nye | ŋe | child |
說文解字
《說文》：“兒，孺子也。从儿，象小兒頭囟未合。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.687
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)