Original meaning: burn a person alive as a sacrifice
Pictograph of burning a tortured person (𦰩) over fire (火) as sacrifice, now written as 熯. The meaning later shifted to "bake", "dry out", and "clay".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | gin | [g]rə[r] | time, season |
| kj+nX | kə[r]ʔ | (a kind of vegetable) | |
| gin | [g]rə[r] | clay |
說文解字
《說文》：“堇，黏土也。从土，从黄省。、皆古文堇。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 李学勤《字源》p.1198季旭昇《說文新證》p.912
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Original meaning: press down
Depicts a kneeling person (卩) being pushed down by a hand (爪). Based on the original meaning "press down", now written as 抑. The current meaning "color" is a phonetic loan.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | srik | s.rək | color; countenance |
說文解字
《說文》：“色，顏气也。从人，从卪。，古文。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.711-712
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)