嗣位 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

sìwèi

succeed

sì to inherit, to connect

Depicts inheriting knowledge and wisdom down to descendents through bamboo slips (冊). 司 represents the sound.

Components

口 Iconic component

kǒu, kou mouth

This component possibly alludes to knowledge and wisdom that comes from the mouth.

冊 Iconic component

cè book

司 Sound component

sī take charge of

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC

Seal form — Seal Qin 221-206 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	ziH	sə.lə-s	succeed, inherit

說文解字

《說文》：“嗣，諸侯嗣國也。从，从口，司聲，孠，古文嗣从子。”

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)

wèi position

Depicts a person (亻) standing (立) in a specific position.

Components

亻 Iconic component

rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

立 Sound Iconic component

lì stand

立 also represents the sound.

Change in sound

位 and 立 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
位 *[ɢ]ʷrəp-s (< *ɢʷəʔ-rəp-s ?)
立 *k.rəp

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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 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

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Component uses

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	hwijH	[ɢ]ʷrəp-s (< *ɢʷəʔ-rəp-s ?)	standing, position

說文解字

《說文》：“位，列中庭之左右謂之位。从人、立。”

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫廣韻形聲考
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)