名师出高徒
míng​shī​chū​gāo​tú

excellent mentorship

名 míng name

Depicts a mouth (口) saying their own name at night (夕) when it is too dark for others to see them.

Components

夕
夕 Iconic component
xī evening

Depicts the moon.

口
口 Iconic component
kǒu, kou mouth

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 5 verified)

铭茗酩眳銘

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

铭銘

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmjiengC.meŋ name

說文解字

《說文》：“名，自命也。从口，从夕。夕者，冥也。冥不相見，故以口自名。”

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)

师 shī teacher Simplified

Simplified form of 師. 𠂤 and 帀 both represent the sound.

Components

刂
刂 Simplified component
dāo knife

Shorthand for the 𠂤 component in the traditional character 師.

帀
帀 Sound component
zā to go round

Component uses

Sound (1 of 4 verified)

狮筛蛳浉

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.500-501
Readings & variants
Unicode

出 chū go out

Pictograph of a foot (止) exiting a cave (凵).

Components

止
止 Iconic component
zhǐ (foot), stop

Depicts a foot.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 止 than it was in ancient scripts.
凵
凵 Iconic component
qiǎn, kǎn enclosure

Depicts a cave.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 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
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

Component uses

Sound (2 of 9 verified)

础屈拙咄黜茁绌诎絀

Meaning (2 of 4 verified)

卖茁粜賣

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

祟

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsyhwitt-kʰut go or come out
tsyhwijHt-kʰut-s bring or take out

說文解字

《說文》：“出，進也。象艸木益滋上出達也。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.501-502
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

高 gāo high

Pictograph of a tall building.

Components

京
京 Iconic component
jīng capital city

Pictograph of a tall building.

口
口 Distinguishing component
kǒu, kou mouth

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 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

Component uses

Sound (6 of 18 verified)

毫搞乔豪稿敲膏镐蒿槁篙犒缟縞暠喬鎬槀

Meaning (3 of 4 verified)

乔嵩臺喬

Remnant (2)

毫臺

Simplified (1)

乔

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkawCə.[k]ˤaw high, tall

說文解字

《說文》：“高，崇也，象臺觀高之形。从冂、口，與倉舍同意。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.448
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

徒 tú disciple

Original meaning: go on foot

Phonosemantic compound. 辵 represents the meaning and 土 represents the sound. 土 also represents the meaning. Based on the original meaning "go on foot". The meaning later shifted to "disciple".

Components

辵
辵 Meaning component
chuò walk
Change in meaning
辵 hints at the original meaning of 徒, "go on foot", which is no longer the most common meaning of 徒 in modern Mandarin.
土
土 SoundMeaning component
tǔ earth

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
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-Sagartdu[d]ˤa go on foot

說文解字

《說文》：“，步行也。从辵，土聲。”

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)

師 shī teacher Traditional

𠂤 and 帀 both represent the sound.

Components

𠂤
𠂤 Sound component
duī mound
Change in sound
帀
帀 Sound component
zā to go round
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (3)

官遣𠳋

Remnant (3)

官遣𠳋

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

篩螄獅

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsrijsrij army
srijsrij master

說文解字

《說文》：“師，二千五百人為師。从帀，从。，四帀眾意也。，古文師。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.500-501
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)