qǔ​cháng​bǔ​duǎn

complement

take

Pictograph of a hand () grabbing an ear (). In ancient China, the ears of opponents in battle were cut off and collected as tokens of victory.

Components

Iconic component
ěr ear
Iconic component
yòu hand

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (8 of 12 verified)

Meaning (1 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttshuwXtsʰˤoʔ take
tshjuXtsʰoʔ take
tshjuH[ts]ʰoʔ-s take (a wife)

說文解字

《說文》:“取,捕取也。从又,从耳。《周禮》:‘獲者取左耳。’《司馬法》曰:‘載獻聝。’聝者,耳也。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

zhǎng, cháng long Simplified

Pictograph of an old person with long hair using a cane to walk. The simplified character was adapted from the cursive form of the traditional character .

Character Evolution

Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 8 verified)

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical images
Academia Sinica

mend, patch Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Simplified form of .

Components

Meaning component
clothes

is a component form of .

Sound component
bo fortune telling

Sources

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

duǎn short

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
shǐ arrow
Sound component
dòu bean
Change in sound

Character Evolution

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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttwanXtˤorʔ short

說文解字

《說文》:“短,有所長短,以矢為正。从矢,豆聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

zhǎng, cháng long Traditional

Pictograph of an old person with long hair using a cane to walk.

Character Evolution

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 Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 6 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdrjangCə-[N]-traŋ long (adj.)
trjangXtraŋʔ grow; elder

說文解字

《說文》:“長,久遠也。从兀,从匕。兀者,高遠意也。久則變化。亾聲。●者倒亾也。,古文長;,亦古文長。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

mend, patch Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
clothes

is a component form of .

Sound component
fu begin

Character Evolution

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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartpuX[Cə]-pˤaʔ to patch

說文解字

《說文》:“補,完衣也。从衣,甫聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica