垂死
chuí​sǐ

dying

垂 chuí droop

Original meaning: borderland

Phonosemantic compound. 土 represents the meaning and 𠂹 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "borderland", now written as 陲. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

𠂹
𠂹 Sound component
chuí grass, trees, flowers, leaves
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 𠂹 than it was in ancient scripts.
土
土 Meaning component
tǔ earth
Change in meaning
土 hints at the original meaning of 垂, "borderland", which is no longer the most common meaning of 垂 in modern Mandarin.

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 9 verified)

睡锤唾捶陲缍棰錘埵

Meaning (1)

郵

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdzywe[d]o[j] hang down

說文解字

《玉篇》：“，《說文》垂。”

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)

死 sǐ die

Original meaning: to bury a person

Depicts using a digging tool (歹) to bury a person (人). Based on the original meaning "to bury a person". The meaning of this character has shifted over time and now means "die".

Components

歹
歹 Iconic component
dǎi, è, dāi evil, bad

Depicts a digging tool.

人
人 Iconic component
rén, ren person

Depicts a person.

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

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (1 of 4 verified)

毙薨屍斃

Iconic (1)

葬

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsijXsijʔ die (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“死，澌也，人所離也。从歺，从人。，古文死如此。”

Sources

Character origin
张昂《说“死”“葬”》廣韻形聲考
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)