图象 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

tú map Simplified

Simplified form of 圖. Depicts a map of city boundaries (囗) and places outside the city boundaries (啚).

Components

囗 Iconic component

wéi, guó surround

Depicts walls of a city.

冬 Simplified component

dōng winter

Shorthand for the 啚 component in the traditional character 圖.

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode

xiàng elephant

Pictograph of an elephant.

Character Evolution

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Iconic (3)

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

Simplified (1)

Meaning (1)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	zjangX	s.[d]aŋʔ	elephant

說文解字

《說文》：“象，長鼻牙，南越大獸，三年一乳。象耳牙四足之形。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.740
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

tú map Traditional

Depicts a map of city boundaries (囗) and places outside the city boundaries (啚).

Components

囗 Iconic component

wéi, guó surround

Depicts walls of a city.

啚 Iconic component

bǐ, tú remote place

Depicts a granary outside city walls.

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	du	[d]ˤa	consider

說文解字

《說文》：“圖，畫計難也。从口，从啚。啚，難意也。”

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)