可裂变同位素 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

kě able to

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

口 Meaning component

kǒu, kou mouth

Change in meaning

口 hints at the original meaning of 可, "sing", which is no longer the most common meaning of 可 in modern Mandarin.

丂 Sound Iconic component

kǎo, qiǎo, yú axe handle

Depicts an axe handle.

Change in sound

可 and 丂 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Middle Chinese.
可 khaX
丂 khawX

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

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

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (6 of 20 verified)

何阿奇河哥呵柯苛珂诃轲坷舸岢疴哿蚵钶軻訶

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

珂

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)

liè split

Phonosemantic compound. 衣 represents the meaning and 列 represents the sound.

Components

衣 Meaning component

yī clothes

列 Sound component

liè arrange

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	ljet	[r]at	to cut, split
Zhengzhang		red
Unicode	liɛt

說文解字

繒餘也。从衣𠛱聲。

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

biàn change Simplified

Simplified form of 變. Phonosemantic compound. 夂 represents the meaning and 䜌 represents the sound.

Components

䜌 Sound Simplified component

luán tie together

Change in sound

变 and 䜌 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in older Chinese.

又 Simplified component

yòu again

Shorthand for the 夂 component in the traditional character 變. 夂 is a component form of 止.

Sources

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

tóng, tong, tòng together

Depicts a large object (凡) like a shoulder carriage that requires the cooperation of multiple people working together to carry.

Components

凡 Iconic component

fán all

Depicts a large object like a shoulder carriage.

口 Meaning component

kǒu, kou mouth

Alludes to people speaking together to communicate.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	duwng	lˤoŋ	together, join

說文解字

《說文》：“同，合會也。从，从口。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.614
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

wèi position

Depicts a person (亻) standing (立) in a specific position.

Components

亻 Iconic component

rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

立 Sound Iconic component

lì stand

立 also represents the sound.

Change in sound

位 and 立 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
位 *[ɢ]ʷrəp-s (< *ɢʷəʔ-rəp-s ?)
立 *k.rəp

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

莅

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

涖

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	hwijH	[ɢ]ʷrəp-s (< *ɢʷəʔ-rəp-s ?)	standing, position

說文解字

《說文》：“位，列中庭之左右謂之位。从人、立。”

Sources

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

sù raw silk, white, plain

Depicts raw silk (糸) hanging from a rack.

Components

◎ Iconic component

characterless component

Depicts a rack.

糸 Iconic component

mì, sī silk

Depicts raw silk.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

愫嗉

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

愫

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	suH	[s]ˤak-s	white silk

說文解字

《說文》：“素，白緻繒也。从糸、，取其澤也。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.891-892
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

biàn change Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 夂 represents the meaning and 䜌 represents the sound.

Components

䜌 Sound component

luán tie together

Change in sound

變 and 䜌 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
變 *pro[n]-s
䜌 *mə.rˤo[n]

攵 Meaning component

pū tap

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	pjenH	pro[n]-s	change (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“變，更也。从攴，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)

可 kě able to

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (6 of 20 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

裂 liè split

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

变 biàn change Simplified

Components

Sources

同 tóng, tong, tòng together

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (2 of 14 verified)

Iconic (2)

Simplified (1)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

位 wèi position

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

素 sù raw silk, white, plain

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

變 biàn change Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

kě able to

liè split

biàn change Simplified

tóng, tong, tòng together

wèi position

sù raw silk, white, plain

biàn change Traditional