奇数 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

qí strange

Phonosemantic compound. 大 represents the meaning and 可 represents the sound.

Components

dà, dài big

kě able to

Change in sound

奇 and 可 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
奇 *[k](r)aj
可 *[k]ʰˤa[j]ʔ

Character Evolution

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

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (4 of 18 verified)

骑寄椅倚崎畸琦绮犄旖猗欹剞齮掎騎綺埼

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

畸

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kje	[k](r)aj	odd (number)
	gje	N-k(r)aj	strange

說文解字

《說文》：“奇，異也。一曰不耦。从大，从可。”

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)

shù, shǔ, shu number Simplified

Simplified form of 數. Phonosemantic compound. 攵 represents the meaning and 婁 represents the sound.

Components

攵 Meaning component

pū tap

攵 is a component form of 攴.

娄 Sound component

lóu, lǚ, lǘ surname

Change in sound

数 and 娄 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Middle Chinese.
数 srjuX
娄 lju

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

擞薮

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

shù, shǔ, shu number Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 攵 represents the meaning and 婁 represents the sound.

Components

攵 Meaning component

pū tap

攵 is a component form of 攴.

婁 Sound component

surname

Change in sound

數 and 婁 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Middle Chinese.
數 srjuX
婁 lju

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

擻藪

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	srjuX	s-roʔ	count (v.)
	srjuH	s-roʔ-s	number (n.)
	sraewk	s-rok	frequently

說文解字

《說文》：“數，計也。从攴，婁聲。”

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)

奇 qí strange

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (4 of 18 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

数 shù, shǔ, shu number Simplified

Components

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

數 shù, shǔ, shu number Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

qí strange

shù, shǔ, shu number Simplified

shù, shǔ, shu number Traditional