mǔ​shī

governess

woman looking after children

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
nǚ, nü woman
Sound component
mother

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmuwXməʔ female teacher in harem

Sources

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

shī teacher Simplified

Simplified form of . 𠂤 and both represent the sound.

Components

Simplified component
dāo knife

Shorthand for the 𠂤 component in the traditional character .

Sound component
to go round

Component uses

Sound (1 of 4 verified)

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.500-501
Readings & variants
Unicode

shī teacher Traditional

𠂤 and both represent the sound.

Components

𠂤
𠂤 Sound component
duī mound
Change in sound
Sound component
to go round
Change in sound

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
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
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (3)

Remnant (3)

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsrijsrij army
srijsrij master

說文解字

《說文》:“師,二千五百人為師。从帀,从。,四帀眾意也。,古文師。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.500-501
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica