卖官鬻爵
mài​guān​yù​jué

selling offices

卖 mài, mai sell Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 出 represents the meaning and 买 represents the sound. Simplified form of 賣.

Components

出
出 Meaning component
chū go out
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 出 than it was in ancient scripts.
买
买 SoundMeaning component
mǎi buy

Component uses

Sound (0 of 5 verified)

赎渎牍椟觌

Meaning (0 of 3 verified)

赎犊黩

Simplified (1)

读

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

官 guān official

Depicts an official person (師) working in a governmental institution (宀).

Components

宀
宀 Meaning component
mián roof
師
師 MeaningRemnant component
shī teacher

𠂤 is used here as an abbreviation of 師.

Character Evolution

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 Late Western Zhou ~800 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 9 verified)

管馆棺倌绾涫菅逭館

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkwankʷˤa[n] official (n.)

說文解字

《說文》：“官，吏事君也。从宀，从。猶眾也，此與師同意。”

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)

鬻 yù, zhōu, jū sell

Original meaning: porridge

Depicts porridge being made from rice (米) cooking in a steamy cooking vessel (䰜). Based on the original meaning "porridge", now written as 粥. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

米
米 Iconic component
mǐ rice
䰜
䰜 Iconic component
lì a large earthen pot

Depicts a vessel (鬲) with hot steam rising around it.


Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartyuwkm-quk nourish
tsyuwkt-quk rice gruel

說文解字

《說文》：“鬻，也。从，米聲。”

Sources

Character origin
李学勤《字源》p.215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)

爵 jué feudal title or rank

Original meaning: wine-warming vessel

Pictograph of a type of vessel used to serve warm wine during ancestor worship ceremonies. Based on the original meaning "wine-warming vessel". The meaning of this character has shifted over time and now means "fedual title or rank".

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 Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
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

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

嚼爝

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsjak[ts]ewk nobility, rank

說文解字

《說文》：“爵，禮器也。象爵之形，中有鬯酒，又持之也，所以飲。器象爵者，取其鳴節節足足也。，古文爵，象形。”

Sources

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

賣 mài, mai sell Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 出 represents the meaning and 買 represents the sound.

Components

出
出 Meaning component
chū go out
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 出 than it was in ancient scripts.
買
買 SoundMeaning component
mǎi buy

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

牘贖瀆

Meaning (0 of 3 verified)

犢贖黷

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmeaHmˤrajʔ-s sell

說文解字

《說文》：“，出物貨也。从出，从買。”

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)