四散奔逃
sì​sàn​bēn​táo

flee and scatter

四 sì four

In ancient texts the character 亖 (four horizontal strokes) was used. The current form 四 depicts breathing through the nose and is the original form of 呬. The use of 四 as a number is a phonetic loan.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 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
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
Clerical form
Clerical Jin 266-420 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 4 verified)

泗驷呬駟

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

驷駟

Iconic (1)

呬

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsijHs.li[j]-s four

說文解字

《說文》：“四，陰數也。象四分之形。，古文四。亖，籀文四。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.948
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

散 sàn, sǎn scatter

Originally written as 𢽳, which depicted trees (林) being struck (攵) to make things fall off the tree and scatter. The character 斝 was sometimes confused with the character 散, and a corruption of it visually similar to 月 was added.

Components

𢽳
𢽳 SoundMeaning component
sàn scatter
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 𢽳 than it was in ancient scripts.
斝
斝 Remnant component
jiǎ small jade wine cup

Modern form looks like 月.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 斝 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 4 verified)

撒霰馓饊

Meaning (1)

撒

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsanX[s]ˤa[n]ʔ scattered (adj.)
sanHmə-sˤa[n]ʔ-s scatter (v.t.)

說文解字

《說文》：“，雜肉也。从肉，聲。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.345-346
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

奔 bēn, bèn run fast

Depicts a running person (夭) with more than one 止 (foot) components to indicate faster movement. Similar in origin to 走.

Components

夭
夭 Iconic component
yāo, wò, wāi die young
犇
犇 SoundIconic component
bēn run fast

Depicted three feet.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 犇 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
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 1 verified)

锛

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpwonpˤur run (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“奔，走也。从夭，賁省聲。與走同意，俱从夭。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.768
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

逃 táo escape

Originally written as 兆, a pictograph of two people escaping a flood. The 辶 (walk) component was added later to clarify the meaning.

Components

辶
辶 Meaning component
chuò walk

辶 is a component form of 辵.

兆
兆 SoundIconic component
zhào omen

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 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-Sagartdawlˤaw flee

說文解字

《說文》：“逃，亡也。从辵，兆聲。”

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)