xǐ​yuè​biàn​wǔ

dancing for joy

like, happy

Depicts making a joyful noise with a drum () and one's mouth ().

Components

Iconic component
zhù drum
Iconic component
kǒu, kou mouth

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Western Zhou 1045-771 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
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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
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 6 verified)

Meaning (0 of 3 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartxiXqʰ(r)əʔ joy; rejoice

說文解字

《說文》:“喜,樂也。从壴,从口。歖,古文喜从欠,與歡同。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

yuè skip Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Simplified form of .

Components

Meaning component
foot
Sound component
yāo, wò, wāi die young

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

biàn to clap hands

Components

Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

hand

Sound component
biàn, pán to be impatient

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangbrons

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

dance

Originally written as , which is a pictograph of a person dancing, with ox tails or bird feathers hanging from his arms, to pray for rain. The (two feet) component was later added to emphasize the action of dancing after was phonetically borrowed for different meanings.

Components

Iconic component
chuǎn oppose

Depicts two feet.

negative

Depicts a person dancing with ox tails or bird feathers hanging from his arms.


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 Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmjuXk.m(r)aʔ dance (v.)

說文解字

《說文》:“舞,樂也。用足相背。从舛,舞聲。,古文舞从羽、亡。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.472林志強《《文源》評注》p.203
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

yuè skip Traditional

Components

Meaning component
foot

foot

Sound component
dí, zhái a kind of pheasant

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartyaklewkleap, jump
Zhengzhanglewɢ
Unicodeiɑk

說文解字

迅也。从足翟聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica