Depicts an adult man facing forward and standing erect. The meaning later shifted to "big".
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | daH | lˤat-s (MC F!) | big |
| dajH | lˤa[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)
Simplified
Original meaning: bamboo joint
Simplified form of 節. Phonosemantic compound. ⺮ represents the meaning and 即 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "bamboo joint". Later used as a measure word for segments and divisions of time.
Components
艹 MeaningSimplified component
Shorthand for the ⺮ component in the traditional character 節.
卩 SoundSimplified component
Shorthand for the 即 component in the traditional character 節.
Traditional
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | tsreaj | tsˤr[ə]j | purify oneself |
說文解字
《說文》：“齋，戒潔也。从示，齊省聲。，籀文齋从省。”
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)
Traditional
Original meaning: bamboo joint
Phonosemantic compound. ⺮ represents the meaning and 即 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "bamboo joint". Later used as a measure word for segments and divisions of time.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | tset | tsˤik | joint |
說文解字
《說文》：“節，竹約也。从竹，即聲。”
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)