多栽花少栽刺
duō​zāi​huā​shǎo​zāi​cì

diplomacy

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)

栽 zāi to cultivate

Components

戈
戈 Sound component
gē spear
木
木 Meaning component
mù tree

tree

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsoj[ts]ˤəplant (v.)
Zhengzhangʔslɯː
zlɯːs

說文解字

築牆長版也。从木𢦔聲。《春秋傳》曰：“楚圍蔡，里而𣒭。”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

花 huā, hua flower

Phonosemantic compound. 艹 represents the meaning and 化 represents the sound.

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

化
化 Sound component
huà change

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartxwaeqʷʰˤra flower (n.)

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart

少 shǎo, shao, shào few

Depicts four dots, representing the meaning "few". Originally the same character as 小. The small dots possibly represent grains of sand (沙).

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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 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 Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (7 of 13 verified)

沙妙秒吵抄纱炒钞砂杪耖紗鈔

Meaning (1 of 4 verified)

劣眇杪尠

Iconic (3)

沙砂釆

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsyewX[s.t]ewʔ few
syewH[s-t]ewʔ-s young

說文解字

《說文》：“少，不多也。从小，丿聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.79
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

刺 cì stab

Phonosemantic compound. 刂 represents the meaning and 朿 represents the sound.

Components

朿
朿 SoundIconic component
cì thorn, stab

Pictograph of a thorned weapon or plant.

刂
刂 Meaning component
dāo knife

刂 is a component form of 刀.

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

莿

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

莿

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttshjeH[tsʰ]ek-s sharp point, thorn
tshjek[tsʰ]ek pierce, stab

說文解字

《說文》：“刺，君殺大夫曰刺。刺，直傷也。从刀，从朿，朿亦聲。”

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)