Pictograph of two hands together to convey the meaning "friend". 又 also represents the sound.
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | hjuwX | [ɢ]ʷəʔ | friend |
說文解字
《說文》：“友，同志為友。从二又，相交友也。，古文友。。亦古文友。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.211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
Original meaning: to not be seen
Simplified form of 萬. Variant of 丏. Depicts a person (人) with a cover on top, conveying the original meaning "to not be seen". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Old Chinese | |
|---|---|
| Zhengzhang | mans |
| mɯːɡ |
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.701黃德寬《古文字譜系疏證》p.2839-2840
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Zhengzhang Shangfang
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
Simplified
Phonosemantic compound. 步 represents the meaning and 戉 represents the sound. The simplified character 岁 was adapted from the cursive form of the traditional character 歲.
Components
山 Simplified component
Shorthand for the 步 component in the traditional character 歲.
夕 Simplified component
Shorthand for the 戉 component in the traditional character 歲.
Traditional
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | |
|---|---|---|
| Zhengzhang | ŋrals | |
| Unicode | ngyɛ̀ |
說文解字
《說文》：“誼，人所宜也。从言，从宜，宜亦聲。”
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)
Traditional
Original meaning: scorpion
Originally a pictograph of a scorpion. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | mjonH | C.ma[n]-s | 10,000 |
說文解字
《說文》：“萬，蟲也。从厹，象形。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.954-955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)
Traditional
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | sjwejH | s-qʷʰat-s | year |
說文解字
《說文》：“歲，木星也。越歷二十八宿，宣徧陰陽，十二月一次。从步，戌聲。律歷書名五星為五步。”
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)