女士优先
nǚ​shì​yōu​xiān

ladies first

女 nǚ, nü woman

Depicts a woman sitting or squatting down.

Character Evolution

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 Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (31 of 141 verified)

好她始妈姐娘婚姑姆姓妹妙奶婆媒娜嫌娃妖妨姿奸姻嫁妄妮嫂娇姊耍姨媚姚媳姜娱娶嫩娟妒妆姬嫉妓娥婉姥娅婶婢婪婿嫦妞娴嬉嫖嫣妊娼娠婷嫡姗媲婵嫔娓娄妩媛娩婊娲娑孀媾婀姣佞妍娣妲嬗妪嬷姘婕媸娌妗婺媪嫠姒姹娉妯娆嫱嬖嫘婧嬲嫒姝妣娈嫜妁嫫媵妤嬌嫪孃姮妳娭孌嬈嫵娛嫚媠媷媽奼姪嬋姦婭嫻嬛媕妝嬪姫媧嫗嬸

Iconic (15 of 16 verified)

要如安威妇妻奴妥婴妃妾囡妟嬰婦婁

Sound (2 of 4 verified)

如奴汝钕

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartnrjoXnraʔ female
nrjoHnraʔ-s give as a wife

說文解字

《說文》：“女，婦人也。象形。王育說。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.848
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

士 shì, shi scholar, soldier

Pictograph of the head of an axe. Used to represent a soldier.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

在仕悫

Meaning (3)

壮毐壯

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdzriX[m-s-]rəʔ officer; gentleman

說文解字

《說文》：“士，事也。數始於一，終於十。从一，从十。孔子曰：‘推十合一為士。’”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.59-60
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

优 yōu superior Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 尤 represents the sound. Simplified form of 優.

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

尤
尤 Sound component
yóu especially

Sources

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

先 xiān first

Depicts a person (人) stepping forward (止) leading the way.

Components

止
止 Iconic component
zhǐ (foot), stop

Depicts a foot stepping forward.

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

Character Evolution

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 Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (4 of 11 verified)

选洗宪酰诜铣跣冼筅銑兟

Meaning (1)

兟

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsensˤər first
senHsˤər-s go first

說文解字

《說文》：“先，前進也。从儿，从之。”

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)

優 yōu superior Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 憂 represents the sound.

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

憂
憂 Sound component
yōu sad

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'juwʔ(r)u entertainer; liberal

說文解字

《說文》：“優，饒也。从人，憂聲。一曰倡也。”

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)