Origin unclear. Possibly depicts a folded piece of cloth.
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | phjit | pʰi[t] | one of a pair |
說文解字
《說文》：“匹，四丈也。从八、匸，八揲一匹，八亦聲。”
Sources
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Original meaning: mix wine
Phonosemantic compound. 酉 represents the meaning and a remnant of 妃 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "mix wine". The meaning later shifted to "match".
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | phwojH | pʰˤ[ə][j]-s | counterpart; be the counterpart of |
說文解字
《說文》：“配，酒色也。从酉，己聲。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.984
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)