大驾光临 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

dà, dài big

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

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Regular Modern

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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 show all 21 show fewer

Iconic (21)

天因美夫央亦乘衡牵熊夹爽奚鬱粦耎夨叕夾椉業 show all 21 show fewer

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)

jià to drive Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 马 represents the meaning and 加 represents the sound. Simplified form of 駕.

Components

马 Meaning component

mǎ horse

加 Sound component

jiā add

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

guāng light

Pictograph of fire on top of a person.

Components

火 Iconic component

huǒ fire

Change in form

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

卩 Iconic component

jié person kneeling

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 6 verified)

晃恍胱觥咣桄

Meaning (1 of 3 verified)

辉耀輝

Iconic (2)

参參

Remnant (2)

参參

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kwang	kʷˤaŋ	light, brightness

說文解字

《說文》：“光，明也。从火在人上，光明意也。，古文。炗，古文。”

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)

lín draw near Simplified

Original meaning: to look down

Simplified form of 臨. Depicts a person (人) looking (臣) down at a pile of objects (品). 品 also represents the sound. Based on the original meaning, "to look down". The meaning has shifted over time and now means "draw near".

Components

臣 Iconic Simplified component

chén minister

Depicts an eye.

Change in form

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

人 Iconic component

rén, ren person

Change in form

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

品 Sound Iconic Simplified component

pǐn product

Here used to depict a pile of objects.

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫李学勤《字源》p.728-729
Readings & variants: Unicode

jià to drive Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 馬 represents the meaning and 加 represents the sound.

Components

馬 Meaning component

mǎ horse

加 Sound component

jiā add

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kaeH	kˤraj-s	hitch horses to a chariot

說文解字

《說文》：“駕，馬在軛中。从馬，加聲。，籀文駕。”

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)

lín draw near Traditional

Original meaning: to look down

Depicts a person (人) looking (臣) down at a pile of objects (品). 品 also represents the sound. Based on the original meaning, "to look down". The meaning has shifted over time and now means "draw near".