尤利西斯
Yóu​lì​xī​sī

Ulysses

尤 yóu especially

Original meaning: wart

Pictograph of a hand with a wart on it. The original meaning "wart" is now written as 疣. The original meaning later expanded to "strange, bizarre" and "outstanding, special".

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (5 of 7 verified)

就优犹忧疣鱿魷

Unknown (0 of 2 verified)

稽嵇

Simplified (1)

扰

Iconic (1)

疣

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthjuw[ɢ]ʷə fault; even more

說文解字

《說文》：“尤，異也。从乙，又聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.960
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

利 lì, li benefit

Depicts harvesting grain (禾) with a blade (刂). Harvest was the main source of profit in agricultural societies.

Components

禾
禾 Iconic component
hé grain stalk
刂
刂 Iconic component
dāo knife

刂 is a component form of 刀.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 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 Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 11 verified)

黎莉梨犁俐痢蜊猁脷唎悧

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

悧

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartlijHC.ri[t]-s sharp; profit

說文解字

《說文》：“利，銛也。从刀；和然後利，从和省。《易》曰：‘利者，義之和也。’”

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)

西 xi, xī west

西 was written two different ways in ancient scripts: (1) a pictograph of a bird's nest, and (2) a variant of the phonetically similar 囟.

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
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
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 Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
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
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Qin 221-206 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
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Jin 266-420 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 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 (0 of 10 verified)

牺洒栖茜哂硒溧舾粞恓

Simplified (1)

晒

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsejs-nˤər west
sejs-nˤər west

說文解字

《說文》：“西，鳥在巢上，象形。日在西方而鳥棲，故因以為東西之西。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.831-832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)

斯 sī this

Original meaning: cut

Phonosemantic compound. 斤 represents the meaning and 其 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "cut". Nowadays this character is usually only used for its sound in phonetic loans.

Components

斤
斤 Meaning component
jīn axe
其
其 Sound component
qí its, his, (3p possessive)
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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 Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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 (0 of 5 verified)

撕嘶厮澌廝

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsje[s]e split (v.)
sje[s]e this
sjese 斯須 a short time

說文解字

《說文》：“斯，析也。从斤，其聲。《詩》曰：‘斧以斯之。’”

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)