太阳从西边出来 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

tài, tai very

Addition of a dot to 大 (dà; big) to mean "very" or "extremely".

Components

dà, dài big

Change in sound

太 and 大 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
太 *l̥ˤa[t]-s
大 *lˤa[t]-s

丶 Distinguishing component

zhǔ dot

Character Evolution

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

Clerical form — Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Sound (1 of 7 verified)

态汰钛肽呔酞鈦

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	thajH	l̥ˤa[t]-s	great

說文解字

《說文》：“泰，滑也。从廾，从水，大聲。夳，古文泰。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.800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)

yáng light Simplified

The traditional characters 陰 (Yin) and 陽 (Yang) were simplified to 阴 and 阳. In Chinese philosophy, the moon (月) corresponds to Yin (阴) and the sun (日) corresponds to Yang (阳).

Components

阝 Meaning component

fù hill, place

阝 is a component form of 阜.

日 Simplified component

rì sun

Simplified from the traditional 陽. Used here since the sun corresponds to the 'Yang' of 'Yin and Yang' in Chinese philosophy.

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

cóng, cōng from Simplified

Pictograph of one person following another.

Components

人 Iconic component

rén, ren person

人 Iconic component

rén, ren person

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Historical Pronunciations

	Old Chinese
Zhengzhang	zloŋ

說文解字

《說文》：“从，相聽也。从二人。”

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)

xi, xī west

西 was written two different ways in ancient scripts: (1) a pictograph of a bird's nest, and (2) a variant of the phonetically similar 囟.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Sound (0 of 10 verified)

牺洒栖茜哂硒溧舾粞恓

Simplified (1)

晒

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	sej	s-nˤər	west
	sej	s-nˤər	west

說文解字

《說文》：“西，鳥在巢上，象形。日在西方而鳥棲，故因以為東西之西。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.831-832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)

biān, bian edge Simplified

Simplified form of 邊. Phonosemantic compound. 辶 and 方 represent the meaning, while 自 and 丙 represent the sound. The traditional components 自 and 丙 were removed for simplification.

Components

力 Simplified component

lì, li power

Shorthand for the 方 component in the traditional character 邊.

辶 Meaning component

chuò walk

辶 is a component form of 辵.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

笾

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

chū go out

Pictograph of a foot (止) exiting a cave (凵).

Components

止 Iconic component

zhǐ (foot), stop

Depicts a foot.

Change in form

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

凵 Iconic component

qiǎn, kǎn enclosure

Depicts a cave.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Sound (2 of 9 verified)

础屈拙咄黜茁绌诎絀

Meaning (2 of 4 verified)

卖茁粜賣

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

祟

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tsyhwit	t-kʰut	go or come out
	tsyhwijH	t-kʰut-s	bring or take out

說文解字

《說文》：“出，進也。象艸木益滋上出達也。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.501-502
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

lái come Simplified

Original meaning: wheat

Simplified form of 來. Pictograph of a stalk of wheat. The current meaning "come" is a phonetic loan. The original meaning "wheat" is now written as 麥.