chī​xiàng

table manners

chī eat

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth
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

xiāng, xiàng mutual

Original meaning: look at

Depicts an eye () looking at a tree (). Based on the original meaning "look at". The meaning of this character has shifted over time to "compare" and "each other".

Components

Iconic component
tree
Iconic component
eye

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 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 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 Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 8 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsjang[s]aŋ mutually
sjangH[s]aŋ-s appearance, quality

說文解字

《說文》:“相,省視也。从目,从木。《易》曰:‘地可觀者莫可觀於木。’《詩》曰:‘相鼠有皮。’”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.267漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica