古井无波 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

gǔ old

Original meaning: firm, solid

Depicts a shield. Based on the original meaning "firm, solid", which is now written as 固. The current meaning "old" is a phonetic loan.

Components

盾 Iconic component

dùn shield

Depicts a shield.

Change in form

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 盾 than it was in ancient scripts.

口 Meaning component

kǒu, kou mouth

The 口 component is sometimes used to indicate an abstract meaning taken from a concrete object. Here, the concrete object "shield" evokes the abstract meaning "firm, solid".

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Sound (7 of 27 verified)

故苦居胡固姑估枯咕辜沽骷轱钴祜鸪蛄诂牯嘏怙岵罟酤鴣軲鈷 show all 27 show fewer

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kuX	kˤaʔ	ancient

說文解字

《說文》：“古，故也。从十口。識前言者也。，古文古。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.154
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

jǐng well

Pictograph of the opening of a water well.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tsjengX	C.tseŋʔ	well (n.)

說文解字

《說文》：“井，八家一井。象構韓形。‧，之象也。古者伯益初作井。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.428-429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)

wú negative Simplified

Original meaning: dance

Pictograph of a person dancing, with ox tails or bird feathers hanging from his arms, to pray for rain. Original form of 舞 (dance). The current form is a phonetic loan. The simplified character 无 was adapted from the cursive form of the traditional character 無.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Sound (0 of 6 verified)

抚芜妩庑呒怃

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	mju	ma	not have

說文解字

《說文》：“，亡也，从亡無聲；无，奇字无，通於元者，王育說：‘天屈西北為无。’”

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.495
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

bō waves

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 皮 represents the sound.

Components

氵 Meaning component

shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

皮 Sound component

pí skin

Change in sound

波 and 皮 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
波 *pˤaj
皮 *m-[p](r)aj

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

婆啵菠

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

啵

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	pa	pˤaj	wave (n.)

說文解字

《說文》：“波，水涌流也。从水，皮聲。”

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)

wú negative Traditional

Original meaning: dance

Pictograph of a person dancing, with ox tails or bird feathers hanging from his arms, to pray for rain. Original form of 舞 (dance). The current meaning is a phonetic loan.