小确幸
xiǎo​què​xìng

small joy

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)

确 què solid Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 石 represents the meaning and 角 represents the sound.

Components

石
石 Meaning component
shí stone
角
角 Sound component
jiǎo, jué horn

Character Evolution

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
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangɡroːɡ
Unicodehak

說文解字

《說文》：“确，礊石也。从石，角聲。，确或从。”

Sources

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

幸 xìng fortunate

Origin unclear.

Components

犬
犬 Unknown component
quǎn dog

The purpose of this component is unclear.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 犬 than it was in ancient scripts.
矢
矢 Unknown component
shǐ arrow

Here 矢 is rotated upside-down. Similar to 至. The purpose of this component is unclear.

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

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 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 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

悻圉倖

Meaning (1)

倖

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartheangX[g]ˤreŋʔ fortunate

說文解字

《說文》：“，吉而免凶也。从屰，从夭。夭死之事，故死謂之不。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.768-769
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

確 què solid Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 石 represents the meaning and 隺 represents the sound.

Components

石
石 Meaning component
shí stone
隺
隺 Sound component
hú, què, hè (crane), very high
Change in sound

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkhaewk[k]ʰˤrawk solid, firm

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart