孔武有力 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

kǒngwǔyǒulì

powerful

kǒng hole, opening

Original meaning: fontanel

Depicts an opening in a child's (子) head, representing the fontanel. Based on the original meaning "fontanel". The meaning of this character has shifted over time and now means "hole" and "opening".

Components

子 Iconic component

zi, zǐ child

◎ Iconic component

characterless component

Depicts an opening.

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 Spring and Autumn ~500 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	khuwngX	[k]ʰˤoŋʔ	(surname)

說文解字

《說文》：“孔，通也。从乙，从子。乙，請子之候鳥也。乙至而得子，嘉美之也。古人名嘉，字子孔。”

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)

wǔ military

Depicts marching (止) with a weapon (戈).

Components

戈 Iconic component

gē spear

止 Iconic component

zhǐ (foot), stop

Depicts a foot.

Character Evolution

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 Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 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 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

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 4 verified)

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	mjuX	m(r)aʔ	military

說文解字

《說文》：“武，楚莊王曰：夫武，定功戢兵。故止戈為武。”

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)

yǒu have

Depicts a hand (又) holding meat (肉). In Oracle script this character was written the same as the phonetically similar 又, but later the 肉 component was added to distinguish them.

Components

又 Sound Iconic component

yòu hand

Change in form

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

肉 Iconic component

ròu meat

Deceptively similar but unrelated to the character for moon (月).

Change in form

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 肉 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 Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1 of 9 verified)

郁囿宥鲔侑铕洧鮪迶

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	hjuwX	[ɢ]ʷəʔ	have, exist

說文解字

《說文》：“有，不宜有也。《春秋傳》曰：‘日月有食之。’从月，又聲。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.550
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

lì, li power

Pictograph of a plow, which requires strength to operate.

Character Evolution

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 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 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

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Component uses

Meaning (24 of 47 verified)

动加务办功势男助劳努勇劲励勃劝勤幼劫勉勋勘募劾饬夯勖劭劬勐劢辦飭勞劦勢務勛勦勸勵劼劵勝勁勈動勳 show all 47 show fewer

Sound (4 of 9 verified)

历勒励劣肋仂阞勵艻

Simplified (3 of 5 verified)

边伤穷胁虏

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	lik	k.rək	strength

說文解字

《說文》：“力，筋也。象人筋之形。治功曰力，能圉大災。”

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.918-919
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)