Original meaning: silk streamers used for arrows
Variant of 弔. Depicts a person carrying silk streamers used for wrapping around arrows with. Based on the original meaning "silk streamers used for arrows", now written as 繳. The meaning later shifted to "to hang" and "to hang a person".
Components
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | tewH | tˤ[e]wk-s | grieved; condole |
| Zhengzhang | tiːwɢs |
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.639-640黃德寬《古文字譜系疏證》p.838-839漢語多功能字庫
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Original meaning: to bury a person
Depicts using a digging tool (歹) to bury a person (人). Based on the original meaning "to bury a person". The meaning of this character has shifted over time and now means "die".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | sijX | sijʔ | die (v.) |
說文解字
《說文》：“死，澌也，人所離也。从歺，从人。，古文死如此。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 张昂《说“死”“葬”》廣韻形聲考
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Pictograph of a person (人) with the head of a ghost/demon (甶). 厶 was later added as a decorative mark.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | kjw+jX | k-ʔujʔ | ghost |
說文解字
《說文》：“鬼，人所歸為鬼。从人，象鬼頭。鬼陰氣賊害，从厶。，古文从示。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 林志強《《文源》評注》p.4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)