宗祠
zōng​cí

ancestral temple

宗 zōng, zong ancestor, sect

Depicts a spiritual (示) edifice (宀), like an ancestral shrine.

Components

宀
宀 Meaning component
mián roof
示
示 Meaning component
shì show

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 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 Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 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

Component uses

Sound (3 of 10 verified)

综崇踪棕淙鬃粽琮綜腙

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsowng[ts]ˤuŋ ancestral temple

說文解字

《說文》：“宗，尊祖廟也。从宀，从示。”

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)

祠 cí, sì ancestral temple

Phonosemantic compound. 礻 represents the meaning and 司 represents the sound.

Components

礻
礻 Meaning component
shì show

礻 is a component form of 示.

司
司 Sound component
sī take charge of

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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 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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartzisə.ləsacrifice
Zhengzhangljɯ
Unicodeziə

說文解字

春祭曰祠。品物少，多文詞也。从示司聲。仲春之月，祠不用犧牲，用圭璧及皮幣。

Sources

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