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
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | sjewX | [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)
Depicts a hand (扌) using an axe (斤) to chop something. Older forms of this character depicted an axe chopping a tree into two pieces.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | dejH | [d]ˤet-s | solitary standing (sc. tree) |
| dzyet | N-tet | bend (v.i.) | |
| tsyet | tet | bend; break (v.t.) |
說文解字
《說文》：“折，斷也。从斤斷艸，譚長說。，籀文折，从艸在仌中，仌寒，故折。𣂚，篆文折，从手。”
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)
Pictograph of a knife.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | taw | C.tˤaw | knife |
說文解字
《說文》：“刀，兵也。象形。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.352
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)