hǎo​sǐ​bù​rú​lài​huó​zhe

better alive

hǎo, hāo, hào good

It is good () for a woman () and her child () to be together.

Components

Meaning component
nǚ, nü woman
Meaning component
zi, zǐ child

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 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 Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
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 (0 of 1 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartxawXqʰˤuʔ good
xawHqʰˤuʔ-s love, like (v.)

說文解字

《說文》:“好,美也。从女、子。”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

die

Original meaning: to bury a person

Depicts using a digging tool () to bury a person (). Based on the original meaning "to bury a person". The meaning of this character has shifted over time and now means "die".

Components

Iconic component
dǎi, è, dāi evil, bad

Depicts a digging tool.

Iconic component
rén, ren person

Depicts a person.

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

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (1 of 4 verified)

Iconic (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsijXsijʔ die (v.)

說文解字

《說文》:“死,澌也,人所離也。从歺,从人。,古文死如此。”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

bù, bu no

Original meaning: sepals

Pictograph of sepals of a flower. The modern meaning "no" is a phonetic loan.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 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 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 5 verified)

Simplified (4)

Meaning (1 of 4 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpjuwnot
pjuw不律 writing brush (pron. in Wú 吳 ap. Shuōwén; E. Hàn)

說文解字

《說文》:“不,鳥飛上翔不下來也。从一,一猶天也。象形。”

Sources

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

be like

Original meaning: obey

Depicts a woman () obeying spoken () orders. Based on the original meaning "obey". The meaning later shifted to "be similar" and "like". also serves as a sound component.

Components

SoundIconic component
nǚ, nü woman
Iconic component
kǒu, kou mouth

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
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 (0 of 5 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartnyona go to
nyona as, like, if

說文解字

《說文》:“如,从隨也。从女,从口。”

Sources

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

lài depend on Simplified

Original meaning: profit

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "profit". The meaning later shifted to "rely on" and "blame". Simplified form of .

Components

Sound component
lá, là cut, slash
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.
Meaning component
bèi sea shell

In ancient China shells were used as currency.

Change in meaning
hints at the original meaning of , "profit", which is no longer the most common meaning of in modern Mandarin.

Component uses

Sound (1 of 5 verified)

Sources

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

huó, huo live

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and 𠯑 represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

is a component form of .

𠯑
𠯑 Sound component
guā block the mouth

Later reanalyzed as the visually similar character .

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

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthwat[g]ʷˤat to live

說文解字

《說文》:“,水流聲。从水,聲。,或从。”

Sources

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

zhe, zháo, zhuó [progress particle] Simplified

Original meaning: chopsticks

Simplified form of . represents the meaning and represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "chopsticks", now written as . The modern meanings are phonetic loans.

Components

cao, cǎo grass

Alludes to bamboo chopsticks. and ⺮ (bamboo) were often used interchangeably with each other because of their visual and semantic similarity.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.
Sound component
zhě one who...

Historical Pronunciations

Middle Chinese
Unicodedjiɑk
djiɑk

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

lài depend on Traditional

Original meaning: profit

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "profit". The meaning later shifted to "rely on" and "blame".

Components

Sound component
lá, là cut, slash
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.
Meaning component
bèi sea shell

In ancient China shells were used as currency.

Change in meaning
hints at the original meaning of , "profit", which is no longer the most common meaning of in modern Mandarin.

Character Evolution

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 Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 4 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartlajHrˤa[t]-s depend on

說文解字

《說文》:“賴,贏也。从貝,剌聲。”

Sources

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

zhe, zháo, zhù [progress particle] Traditional

Original meaning: chopsticks

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "chopsticks", now written as . The modern meanings are phonetic loans.

Components

Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

Alludes to bamboo chopsticks. and ⺮ (bamboo) were often used interchangeably with each other because of their visual and semantic similarity.

Change in meaning
hints at the original meaning of , "chopsticks", which is no longer the most common meaning of in modern Mandarin.
Sound component
zhě one who...

Character Evolution

Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttrjoHt<r>ak-s place (n.); visible
drjakm-t<r>ak put on clothes; be attached
trjakt<r>ak to place

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica