小寿星
xiǎo​shòu​xīng

birthday child

小 xiǎo small

Depicts three small dots, representing the meaning "small". Originally the same character as 少. The small dots possibly represent grains of sand (沙).

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
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 Late Western Zhou ~800 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

Component uses

Meaning (3 of 8 verified)

孙尖尘肖隙尕尜尗

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

肖県

Iconic (2)

𭕆𧴪

Simplified (1)

孙

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsjewX[s]ewʔ small

說文解字

《說文》：“小，物之微也。从八，丨見而分之。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.79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)

寿 shòu old age Simplified

Simplified form of 壽.

Components

耂
耂 Meaning component
lǎo old

耂 is a component form of 老.

◎
◎ Unknown component
characterless component

The meaning of this component is unclear.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 10 verified)

筹涛祷铸畴焘踌俦帱梼

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

俦

Sources

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

星 xīng a star

Phonosemantic compound. 日 represents the meaning and 生 represents the sound.

Components

日
日 Meaning component
rì sun
生
生 Sound component
shēng, sheng life

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze ~1200 - 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
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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 5 verified)

醒猩腥惺戥

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

惺

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsengs-tsʰˤeŋ star

說文解字

《說文》：“曐，萬物之精，上為列星。从晶，生聲。一曰象形，从口，古口復注中，故與日同。，古文星。星，曐或省。”

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)

壽 shòu old age Traditional

Phonosemantic component. 耂 represents the meaning and 𢏚 represents the sound. Later 口 and 又 were added for unknown purpose.

Components

耂
耂 Meaning component
lǎo old
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 耂 than it was in ancient scripts.
𢏚
𢏚 Sound component
chóu plowed field
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 𢏚 than it was in ancient scripts.
口
口 Unknown component
kǒu, kou mouth
又
又 Unknown component
yòu again

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 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 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Jin 266-420 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 9 verified)

禱籌鑄疇檮躊燾濤幬

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdzyuwX[N-t]uʔ longevity
dzyuwH[N-t]uʔ-s longevity

說文解字

《說文》：“壽，久也。从老省，聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫張世超《金文形義通解》p.2103
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)