mèi​zhǐ

girl

mèi, mei younger sister

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
nǚ, nü woman
Sound component
wèi not yet

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmwojHC.mˤə[t]-s younger sister

說文解字

《說文》:“妹,女弟也。从女,未聲。”

Sources

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

zhǐ paper Simplified

Simplified form of . Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
silk

is a component form of .

Sound component
shì clan

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

zhǐ paper Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
silk

is a component form of .

Sound component
shì clan

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttsyeXk.teʔ paper

說文解字

《說文》:“紙,絮一笘也。从糸,氏聲。”

Sources

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