多任务处理
duō​rèn​wu​chǔ​lǐ

multitasking

多 duō much

Depicts two pieces of meat together to convey the meaning "much" or "plentiful". In ancient China meat was a rare treat. Unrelated to 夕.

Components

肉
肉 Iconic component
ròu meat

Depicts a piece of meat.

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

Depicts a piece of meat.

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

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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
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

Component uses

Sound (3 of 6 verified)

移爹侈哆黟眵

Meaning (3 of 4 verified)

够夥奓夠

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartta[t.l]ˤaj many

說文解字

《說文》：“多，重也。从重夕。夕者，相繹也，故為多。重夕為多，重日為。，古文多。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.557
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

任 rèn responsibility

Original meaning: to hold in arms

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 壬 represents the sound.

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

壬
壬 Sound component
rén 9th heavenly stem

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (0 of 3 verified)

凭赁賃

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

恁荏

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartnyimHn[ə]m-s burden; charge (n.)

說文解字

《說文》：“任，符也。从人，壬聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫The Outlier Linguistics Dictionary of Chinese Characters
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

务 wu, wù business Simplified

Simplified form of 務. Phonosemantic compound. 矛 represents the sound, while 攵 and 力 both represent the meaning. The traditional component 矛 was removed for simplification.

Components

務
矛 Deleted component
máo spear
攵
攵 Meaning component
pū tap

攵 is a component form of 攴.

力
力 Meaning component
lì, li power

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

雾

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

处 chù, chǔ, chu place Simplified

Simplified form of 處. Phonosemantic compound. 夂 represents the meaning and 虎 represents the sound.

Components

夂
夂 Meaning component
zhǐ, zhōng go

夂 is a component form of 止. Depicts a foot.

卜
卜 Simplified component
bo fortune telling

Shorthand for the 虎 component in the traditional character 處.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

咎

說文解字

《說文》：“咎，災也。从人，从各。各者，相違也。”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

理 lǐ, li reason

Original meaning: cut jade

Phonosemantic compound. 𤣩 represents the meaning and 里 represents the sound.

Components

𤣩
𤣩 Meaning component
yù jade

𤣩 is a component form of 玉.

Change in meaning
𤣩 hints at the original meaning of 理, "cut jade", which is no longer the most common meaning of 理 in modern Mandarin.
里
里 Sound component
lǐ, li village

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartliXm(ə).rəʔ cut jade; regulate
liXm(ə).rəʔ reason; principle

說文解字

《說文》：“理，治玉也。从玉，里聲。”

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)

務 wu, wù business Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 矛 represents the sound, while 攵 and 力 both represent the meaning.

Components

矛
矛 Sound component
máo spear
Change in sound
攵
攵 Meaning component
pū tap

攵 is a component form of 攴.

力
力 Meaning component
lì, li power

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
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

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

霧

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmjuHm(r)o-s exert oneself

說文解字

趣也。从力敄聲。

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)

處 chù, chǔ, chu place Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 夂 represents the meaning and 虎 represents the sound.

Components

夂
夂 Meaning component
zhǐ, zhōng go

夂 is a component form of 止. Depicts a foot.

虎
虎 Sound component
hǔ, hu tiger

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 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 Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttsyhoXt.qʰaʔ be at
tsyhoHt.qʰaʔ-s place (n.)

說文解字

《說文》：“処，止也，得几而止。从几，从夂。處，処或从虍聲。”

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)