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
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | then | l̥ˤi[n] | heaven |
| xen | l̥ˤi[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)
A kind 二 of bamboo ⺮; ⺮ also provides the pronunciation
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Old Chinese | |
|---|---|
| Zhengzhang | tuːɡ |
| tuːɡ | |
| tuɡ |
說文解字
厚也。从二竹聲。
Sources
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Zhengzhang Shangfang
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Depicts a cow (牛) with a penis (丄). In oracle bone script the animals varied in depiction, such as a pig (豕), a deer (鹿), sheep (羊), horse (馬), etc.
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | muwX | m(r)uʔ | male |
說文解字
《說文》：“牡，畜父也。从牛，土聲。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.91-92
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Depicts a chunk of cinnabar found in a well for mining.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | tan | tˤan | cinnabar |
說文解字
《說文》：“丹，巴越之赤石也。象采丹井，一象丹形。，古文丹。，亦古文丹。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.426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)