Original meaning: sing
Phonosemantic compound. 口 represents the meaning and a pictograph of an axe handle (丂) which is now written as 柯 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "sing", now written as 歌. The current meaning "able to" is a phonetic loan.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | khaX | [k]ʰˤa[j]ʔ | may; acceptable |
說文解字
《說文》：“可，肎也。从口、丂，丂亦聲。”
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)
Components
Historical Pronunciations
| Old Chinese | |
|---|---|
| Zhengzhang | sʰlaːd |
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Zhengzhang Shangfang
Simplified
Original meaning: relocate
Phonosemantic compound. 宀 represents the meaning and 舄 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "relocate". The meaning later shifted to "copy" and "write". The simplified character 写 was adapted from the cursive form of the traditional character 寫.
Components
Component uses
Sound (0 of 1 verified)
Sources
- Character origin
- Wiktionary漢語多功能字庫
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
Traditional
Original meaning: relocate
Phonosemantic compound. 宀 represents the meaning and 舄 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "relocate". The meaning later shifted to "copy" and "write".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Sound (0 of 1 verified)
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | sjaeX | s-qʰAʔ | depict |
| sjaeX | s-qʰAʔ | drain off |
說文解字
《說文》：“寫，置物也。从宀，舄聲。”
Sources
- Character origin
- Wiktionary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)