左右为难 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

zuǒ left

Pictograph of a left hand. The 工 (work) component was added later to represent the meaning "help; assist", now written as 佐.

Components

𠂇 Iconic component

zuǒ left hand

工 Meaning component

gōng work

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tsaX	tsˤa[j]ʔ	left (side)
	tsaX	tsˤa[j]ʔ	assist
	tsaH	tsˤarʔ-s	assist

說文解字

《說文》：“左，手相左助也。从、工。”

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)

yòu right

Pictograph of a right hand. The 口 (mouth) component was added later to distinguish the character from 又.

Components

又 Sound Iconic component

yòu hand

Depicts a right hand.

口 Distinguishing component

kǒu, kou mouth

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

佑醢

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	hjuwX	[ɢ]ʷəʔ	right hand
	hjuwH	[ɢ]ʷəʔ-s (~ *m-qʷəʔ)	right hand

說文解字

《說文》：“右，手口相助也。从又，从口。”

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)

wèi, wéi do Simplified

Simplified form of 為. Pictograph of a hand (又) guiding an elephant (象) to do work (in ancient China elephants were tamed to do work). Based on the meaning "to work; to do".

Components

又 Iconic component

yòu hand

Change in form

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

象 Iconic Simplified component

xiàng elephant

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

伪沩

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.194
Readings & variants: Unicode

nán, nan, nàn difficult Simplified

Original meaning: type of bird

Simplified form of 難. Phonosemantic compound. 隹 represents the meaning and 𦰩 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "type of bird". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

又 Simplified component

yòu again

Shorthand for the 𦰩 component in the traditional character 難.

隹 Meaning component

zhuī, cuī, wéi bird

Component uses

Sound (2 of 4 verified)

滩摊瘫傩

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

wèi, wéi do Traditional

Originally written as 爲, which depicts a hand (又) guiding an elephant (象) to do work (in ancient China elephants were tamed to do work). Based on the meaning "to work; to do".

Components

又 Iconic component

yòu hand

Depicts a hand.

Change in form

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

象 Iconic component

xiàng elephant

Change in form

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

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

偽

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	hjwe	ɢʷ(r)aj	make, do, act as
	hjweH	ɢʷ(r)aj-s	for, because

說文解字

《說文》：“爲，母猴也，其爲禽好爪，爪，母猴象也；下腹爲母猴形。王育曰：‘爪，象形也。’，古文爲，象兩母猴相對形。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.194
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

nán, nan, nàn difficult Traditional

Original meaning: type of bird

Phonosemantic compound. 隹 represents the meaning and 𦰩 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "type of bird". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.