大张旗鼓
dà​zhāng​qí​gǔ

with great fanfare

大 dà, dài big

Depicts an adult man facing forward and standing erect. The meaning later shifted to "big".

Character Evolution

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 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 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

Meaning (9 of 21 verified)

去太奇套尖奈赤契夸奎奢奕叁奘夯奁夼尜奩奓𢧤

Iconic (21)

天因美夫央亦乘衡牵熊夹爽奚鬱粦耎夨叕夾椉業

Sound (6 of 11 verified)

太达夺泰驮耷奪馱忕羍旲

Simplified (4)

类奖奋庆

Unknown (0 of 2 verified)

爨䙴

Deleted (1)

业

Remnant (1)

椉

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdaHlˤat-s (MC F!)big
dajHlˤa[t]-s big

說文解字

《說文》：“大，天大、地大、人亦大，故大象人形。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.764
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

张 zhāng stretch Simplified

Simplified form of 張. Phonosemantic compound. 弓 represents the meaning and 長 represents the sound.

Components

弓
弓 Meaning component
gōng bow
长
长 Sound component
zhǎng, cháng long

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

涨

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

旗 qí banner

Phonosemantic compound. 㫃 represents the meaning and 其 represents the sound.

Components

㫃
㫃 Meaning component
yǎn flags flying
其
其 Sound component
qí its, his, (3p possessive)

Character Evolution

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
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 Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartgi[g](r)ə flag

說文解字

《說文》：“旗，熊旗五游，以象罰星，士卒以為期。从，其聲。《周禮》曰：‘率都建旗。’”

Sources

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

鼓 gǔ drum

Depicts a drumstick held in the hand (支) beating on a drum (壴).

Components

壴
壴 Iconic component
zhù drum
支
支 Iconic component
zhī support, hold up

Depicts a hand holding a drumstick.


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 Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

鼙瞽臌

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

鼗鼕

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkuX[k]ˤaʔ drum (n.)

說文解字

《說文》：“鼓，郭也。春分之音，萬物郭皮甲而出，故謂之鼓。从壴。支，象其手擊之也。《周禮》：‘六鼓：靁鼓八面，靈鼓六面，路鼓四面，鼖鼓、皐鼓、晉鼓皆兩面。’，籀文鼓。从古聲。”

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)

張 zhāng stretch Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 弓 represents the meaning and 長 represents the sound.

Components

弓
弓 Meaning component
gōng bow
長
長 Sound component
zhǎng, cháng long

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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

Component uses

Sound (1)

漲

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttrjangC.traŋ draw a bow

說文解字

《說文》：“張，施弓弦也。从弓，長聲。”

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)