善罢甘休
shàn​bà​gān​xiū

let it rest

善 shàn good

Composed of two 言 (speech) components and 羊 (sheep). In ancient China sheep (羊) were associated with goodness and beauty, which is why 羊 is a component in characters like 美 (beautiful), 善 (benevolent), and 義 (justice).

Components

羊
羊 Meaning component
yáng sheep
言
言 Sound component
yán speech
Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 言 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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

Sound (0 of 7 verified)

膳缮蟮鳝鄯繕鱔

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdzyenX[g]e[n]ʔ good

說文解字

《說文》：“譱，吉也。从誩，从羊。此與義、美同意。，篆文从言。”

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)

罢 ba, bà cease Simplified

Original meaning: tired, wear out

Simplified form of 罷. Depicts a tired bear (能) trapped under a net (网). Based on the original meaning "tired, wear out". The meaning later shifted to "stop" and "quit".

Components

网
网 Iconic component
wǎng net
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 网 than it was in ancient scripts.
去
去 Simplified component
qù go away

Shorthand for the 能 component in the traditional character 罷.

Component uses

Sound (1)

摆

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

甘 gān sweetness

Pictograph of something sweet inside the mouth (口).

Components

口
口 Iconic component
kǒu, kou mouth
◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts something sweet inside the mouth.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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 (1 of 14 verified)

敢钳酣邯柑苷绀蚶泔疳坩紺拑鉗

Meaning (3 of 8 verified)

香智甜柑苷甙蚶泔

Iconic (5)

某甚鲁猒魯

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

嵌

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkam[k]ˤ[a]m sweet

說文解字

《說文》：“甘，美也。从口含一。一，道也。”

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)

休 xiū rest

Depicts a person (亻) resting under a tree (木).

Components

亻
亻 Iconic component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

木
木 Iconic component
mù tree

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
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 Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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 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 Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 6 verified)

咻庥鸺髹貅鵂

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartxjuwqʰ(r)u rest (v.)
xjuwqʰ(r)u blessing

說文解字

《說文》：“休，息止也。从人依木。庥，休或从广。”

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)

罷 ba, bà cease Traditional

Original meaning: tired, wear out

Depicts a tired bear (能) trapped under a net (网). Based on the original meaning "tired, wear out". The meaning later shifted to "stop" and "quit".

Components

网
网 Iconic component
wǎng net
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 网 than it was in ancient scripts.
能
能 Iconic component
néng to be able

Depicts a bear.


Character Evolution

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 Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1)

擺

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartbeaX[b]ˤrajʔ stop, cease
bje[b]raj wear out, exhaust

說文解字

《說文》：“罷，遣有辠也。从网、能，言有賢能而入网，而貰遣之。《周禮》曰：‘議能之辟。’”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫李学勤《字源》p.685
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)