奴颜婢膝
nú​yán​bì​xī

servile

奴 nú slave

Depicts a hand (又) behind a woman (女) slave's back forcing her to work.

Components

女
女 SoundIconic component
nǚ, nü woman

Depicts a woman slave. Also serves as a phonetic component.

又
又 Iconic component
yòu hand

Depicts a hand forcing a slave to do work.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 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 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 10 verified)

拿努怒弩呶驽孥胬拏駑

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

帑

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartnunˤa slave

說文解字

《說文》：“奴，奴、婢，皆古之辠人也。《周禮》曰：‘其奴，男子入于辠隸，女子入于舂藁。’从女，从又。，古文奴，从人。”

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)

颜 yán face Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 页 represents the meaning and 彦 represents the sound. Simplified form of 顏.

Components

彦
彦 Sound component
yàn, pán elegant
页
页 Meaning component
yè page

Depicts a head.

Sources

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

婢 bì servant girl

A humble 卑 woman 女; 卑 also provides the pronunciation

Components

女
女 Meaning component
nǚ, nü woman
卑
卑 SoundMeaning component
bēi humble, inferior

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartbjieX[b]eʔfemale slave or servant
Zhengzhangpeʔ
beʔ
Unicodebhiɛ̌

說文解字

女之卑者也。从女从卑，卑亦聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

膝 xī knee

Phonosemantic compound. ⺼ represents the meaning and 桼 represents the sound.

Components

⺼
⺼ Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh

⺼ is a component form of 肉.

桼
桼 Sound component
qī varnish tree, lacquer

Character Evolution

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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsits-tsik knee

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

顏 yán face Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 頁 represents the meaning and 彥 represents the sound.

Components

彥
彥 Sound component
elegant
頁
頁 Meaning component
yè (head), page

Depicts a head.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 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 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
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartngaenC.ŋˤrar face, forehead
ngaenC.ŋˤrar surname

說文解字

《說文》：“顏，眉目之閒也。从頁，彥聲。，籀文。”

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)