十拿九稳
shí​ná​jiǔ​wěn

cinch

十 shí ten

A single vertical line, representing one set of ten. Analagous to the archaic characters 廿 (twenty) and 卅 (thirty). Possibly originally a picture of a needle, now written as 針.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (6)

协叶针汁針協

Meaning (4 of 5 verified)

什计丈赍計

Unknown (0 of 2 verified)

鸨鴇

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdzyipt.[g]əp ten

說文解字

《說文》：“十，數之具也。一為東西，丨為南北，則四方中央備矣。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.155
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

拿 ná take

Originally written as a hand (手) taking an object. Later written as 拏 with the phonetic 奴 component added. Later the 奴 component was corrupted to 合.

Components

奴
奴 Sound component
nú slave

Later corrupted to the visually similar character 合.

手
手 Meaning component
shǒu, shou hand

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

镎

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

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

九 jiǔ nine

Original meaning: elbow

Depicts an elbow. Based on the original meaning "elbow", now written as 肘. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Spring and Autumn ~600 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 14 verified)

究仇轨旭鸠馗宄艽尻犰軌鳩鼽氿

Simplified (1)

杂

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkjuwX[k]uʔ nine

說文解字

《說文》：“九，陽之變也。象其屈曲究盡之形。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.952-953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)

稳 wěn settled, stable Simplified

Simplified form of 穩. Phonosemantic compound. 禾 represents the meaning and 㥯 represents the sound.

Components

禾
禾 Meaning component
hé grain stalk

grain

急
急 Simplified component
jí urgent

Shorthand for the phonetic 㥯 component in the traditional character 穩.

Sources

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

穩 wěn settled, stable Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 禾 represents the meaning and 㥯 represents the sound.

Components

禾
禾 Meaning component
hé grain stalk
㥯
㥯 Sound component
yǐn careful

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangqʷɯːnʔ
Unicodequə̌n

說文解字

《說文新附》：“穩，蹂穀聚也。一曰安也。从禾，隱省。古通用安隱。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)