吃斋
chī​zhāi

abstain from meat

吃 chī eat

Phonosemantic compound. 口 represents the meaning and 乞 represents the sound.

Components

口
口 Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth
乞
乞 Sound component
qǐ, qì beg

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangkɯd

說文解字

《說文》：“吃，言蹇難也。从口，气聲。”

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)

斋 zhāi vegetarian diet Simplified

Simplified form of 齋. Phonosemantic compound. 示 represents the meaning and 齊 represents the sound.

Components

齐
齐 SoundRemnant component
qí even
而
而 Simplified component
ér and

Shorthand for the bottom half of the traditional character 齋.

Sources

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

齋 vegetarian diet Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 示 represents the meaning and 齊 represents the sound.

Components

齊
齊 Sound component
qí even, uniform
示
示 Meaning component
shì show

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsreajtsˤr[ə]j purify oneself

說文解字

《說文》：“齋，戒潔也。从示，齊省聲。，籀文齋从省。”

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)