Original meaning: doorway, threshold
Depicts a wooden (木) door frame (囗). Based on the original meaning "doorway, threshold". The meaning later expanded to "obstruct" and "trap".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | khwonH | kʰˤu[n]-s | obstruct; distress |
說文解字
《說文》：“困，故廬也。从木在囗中。，古文困。”
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)
Original meaning: bent, curved
Phonosemantic compound. 尸 represents the meaning and 句 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "bent, curved". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | gjowk | N-kʰ(r)ok | bent, curved |
| gjowk | [g](r)ok | department |
說文解字
《說文》：“局，促也。从口在尺下，復局之。一曰博所以行棊。象形。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.101
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)