启蛰
Qǐ​zhé

Awakening of Insects

启 qǐ open Simplified

Simplified form of 啟. Depicts a hand (又) opening a door (户) of an opening (口). The 又 (hand) component was later removed for simplification.

Components

户
户 Iconic component
hù, hu door
口
口 Iconic component
kǒu, kou mouth

Depicts an opening.

又
又 Deleted component
yòu again

Depicts a hand.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkhejXkʰˤijʔ open (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“启，開也。从戶，从口。”

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)

蛰 zhé to hibernate Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 虫 represents the meaning and 执 represents the sound. Simplified form of 蟄.

Components

虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect
执
执 Sound component
zhí hold in hand

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

啟 qǐ open Traditional

Depicts a hand (又) opening a door (户) of an opening (口). The 又 (hand) component was later reanalyzed as meaning component 攵.

Components

户
户 Iconic component
hù, hu door
口
口 Iconic component
kǒu, kou mouth

Depicts an opening.

攵
攵 Meaning component
pū tap

攵 is a component form of 攴.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 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 Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkhejXkʰˤijʔopen (v.)
Zhengzhangkʰeːʔ

說文解字

《說文》：“啟，教也。从攴，启聲。《論語》曰：‘不憤不啟。’”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

蟄 to hibernate Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 虫 represents the meaning and 執 represents the sound.

Components

虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect
執
執 Sound component
zhí hold in hand

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdrip[d]riphibernate; cluster
Zhengzhangdib
Unicodedjhip

說文解字

藏也。从虫執聲。

Sources

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