咬定 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

yǎodìng

insist

yǎo bite

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

Components

口 Meaning component

kǒu, kou mouth

交 Sound component

jiāo to cross, to mix

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese
Zhengzhang		kreːw
		ŋɡreːwʔ
		qreːw
Unicode	gǎu

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Zhengzhang Shangfang

dìng settle

Phonosemantic compound. 宀 represents the meaning and 正 represents the sound.

Components

宀 Meaning component

mián roof

正 Sound component

zhèng, zheng, zhēng correct

Change in sound

定 and 正 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
定 *tˤeŋ-s
正 *teŋ-s

Character Evolution

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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 Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC

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

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 9 verified)

绽淀锭啶碇靛腚錠綻

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	dengH	N-tˤeŋ-s	become fixed; settled (v.i.)
	dengH	m-tˤeŋ-s	make fixed, settle (v.t.)
	tengH	tˤeŋ-s	ready-cooked (food)

說文解字

《說文》：“定，安也。从宀，从正。”

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)