Depicts water rotating around in a circle.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | hwoj | [ɢ]ʷˤəj | go around |
說文解字
《說文》：“回，轉也。从囗，中象回轉形。囘，古文。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.515-516
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Original meaning: head
Depicts a person (大) with an emphasized head. Based on the original meaning "head". The meaning later shifted to "top", "high", and "sky".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | then | l̥ˤi[n] | heaven |
| xen | l̥ˤi[n] (W dialect: l̥ˤ- > Hàn-time *xˤ- > MC x-) | heaven |
說文解字
《說文》：“天，顛也。至高无上，从一、大。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.40-41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)
Original meaning: crooked
Derived from 正, but with the line on top slanted to indicate "crooked (i.e. not straight)". The meaning later shifted to "lack".
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | bjop | [b](r)[o]p | lack (v.) |
說文解字
《說文》：“乏，《春秋傳》曰：‘反正為乏。’”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.121
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Simplified
Original meaning: city road
Simplified form of 術. Phonosemantic compound. 行 represents the meaning and 朮 represents the sound. The traditional component 行 was removed for simplification. Based on the original meaning "city road". The meaning later shifted to "way", "method", "technique", and "skill".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
說文解字
《說文》：“秫，稷之黏者。从禾、术，象形。术，秫或省禾。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Traditional
Original meaning: city road
Phonosemantic compound. 行 represents the meaning and 朮 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "city road". The meaning later shifted to "way", "method", "technique", and "skill".
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | zywit | Cə-lut | technique |
說文解字
《說文》：“術，邑中道也。从行，术聲。”
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)