天上不会掉馅饼
tiān​shàng​bù​huì​diào​xiàn​bǐng

no free lunch

天 tiān, tian sky

Original meaning: head

Depicts a person (大) with an emphasized head. Based on the original meaning "head". The meaning later shifted to "top", "high", and "sky".

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a head.

大
大 Iconic component
dà, dài big

Depicts a person.


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 Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
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 4 verified)

吞蚕忝祆

Iconic (1)

吴

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

昊

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartthenl̥ˤi[n] heaven
xenl̥ˤi[n] (W dialect: l̥ˤ- > Hàn-time *xˤ- > MC x-)heaven

說文解字

《說文》：“天，顛也。至高无上，从一、大。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.40-41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)

上 shàng, shang up

Originally a small line or dot above a longer line, indicating "up". The vertical line was added to distinguish the character from 二 (two). Opposite of 下.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Jin 266-420 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Wu) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (1 of 3 verified)

云忐尗

Sound (1)

让

Simplified (1)

让

Iconic (1)

卡

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdzyangXCə-daŋʔ ascend
dzyangXm-daŋʔ to put up
dzyangHdaŋʔ-s top, above (n.)

說文解字

《說文》：“丄，高也。此古文上，指事也。上，篆文丄。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.44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)

不 bù, bu no

Original meaning: sepals

Pictograph of sepals of a flower. The modern meaning "no" is a phonetic loan.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
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 Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 5 verified)

否杯钚罘盃

Simplified (4)

还环怀坏

Meaning (1 of 4 verified)

否歪甭孬

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpjuwpə not
pjuwpə 不律 writing brush (pron. in Wú 吳 ap. Shuōwén; E. Hàn)

說文解字

《說文》：“不，鳥飛上翔不下來也。从一，一猶天也。象形。”

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)

会 huì, kuài to gather Simplified

Simplified form of 會. Phonosemantic compound. 合 represents the meaning and 𡆧 represents the sound.

Components

合
合 MeaningSimplified component
hé to join
𡆧
𡆧 SoundSimplified component
guó ironware
Change in sound

Component uses

Sound (1 of 12 verified)

绘刽荟桧烩脍狯哙浍鲙郐𬭇

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

侩

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.442
Readings & variants
Unicode

掉 diào fall, drop

Phonosemantic compound. 扌 represents the meaning and 卓 represents the sound.

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

卓
卓 Sound component
zhuó, zhuō profound
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangdeːwʔ
deːwɢs
rneːwɢ
Unicodedhèu

說文解字

《說文》：“掉，搖也。从手，卓聲。《春秋傳》曰：‘尾大不掉。’”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

馅 xiàn pastry filling Simplified

Simplified form of 餡. Phonosemantic compound. 饣 represents the meaning and 臽 represents the sound.

Components

饣
饣 Meaning component
shí eat

饣 is a component form of 食.

臽
臽 Sound component
xiàn a pit

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

饼 bǐng, bing rice-cakes Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 饣 represents the meaning and 并 represents the sound. Simplified form of 餅.

Components

饣
饣 Meaning component
shí eat

饣 is a component form of 食.

并
并 Sound component
bìng combine

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

會 huì, kuài to gather Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 合 represents the meaning and 𡆧 represents the sound.

Components

合
合 Meaning component
hé to join
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 合 than it was in ancient scripts.
𡆧
𡆧 Sound component
guó ironware
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Spring and Autumn ~600 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 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
Clerical form
Clerical Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 11 verified)

劊癐噲膾廥檜燴繪𨭗薈鱠

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

儈廥

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarthwajHm-kˤop-s meeting; have a meeting
hwajHɦʷˤajs (< *m-kˤop-s)阿會亘 ēhuìxuān: Skt. ābhāsvara ‘shining’ (E. Hàn)
kwajHkˤop-s calculate; calculation

說文解字

《說文》：“會，合也。从亼，从曾省。曾，益也。令，古文會如此。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.442
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

餡 xiàn pastry filling Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 飠 represents the meaning and 臽 represents the sound.

Components

飠
飠 Meaning component
eat

飠 is a component form of 食.

臽
臽 Sound component
xiàn a pit

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangɡroːms

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

餅 bǐng, bing rice-cakes Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 飠 represents the meaning and 并 represents the sound.

Components

飠
飠 Meaning component
eat

飠 is a component form of 食.

并
并 Sound component
bìng combine

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartpjiengXpeŋʔ cake

說文解字

《說文》：“餅，麪餈也。从食，并聲。”

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)