宝书
bǎo​shū

treasured book

宝 bǎo treasure Simplified

Simplified form of 寶. Depicts an assortment of valuable things, such as jade (玉), being stored safely under a roof (宀).

Components

宀
宀 Iconic component
mián roof
玉
玉 Iconic component
yù jade

Sources

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

书 shū book Simplified

Simplified form of 書. Phonosemantic compound. 聿 represents the meaning and 者 represents the sound. The simplified character 书 is derived from the cursive form of 書.

Components

聿
聿 MeaningSimplified component
yù writing brush
者
者 SoundSimplified component
zhě one who...
Change in sound

Sources

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

寶 bǎo treasure Traditional

Depicts an assortment of valuable things, including jade (玉) and shells (貝), being stored safely under a roof (宀). The 缶 component represents the sound.

Components

宀
宀 Iconic component
mián roof
𤣩
𤣩 Iconic component
yù jade

𤣩 is a component form of 玉.

缶
缶 Sound component
fǒu pottery
貝
貝 Iconic component
bèi sea shell

In ancient China shells were used as currency.

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
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Western Zhou 1045-771 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~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 Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
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 Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartpawXpˤuʔ precious thing

說文解字

《說文》：“寶，珍也。从宀，从王，从貝，缶聲。寚，古文寶省貝。”

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)

書 shū book Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 聿 represents the meaning and 者 represents the sound.

Components

聿
聿 Meaning component
yù writing brush
者
者 Sound component
zhě one who...
Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 者 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsyos-ta write

說文解字

《說文》：“書，箸也。从聿，者聲。”

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)