巴布亚新几内亚 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

ba, bā to wish

Depicts a person grabbing something with their hand. Original form of 把. In modern Chinese this character is usually used only for its sound.

Character Evolution

Clerical form — Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (4 of 18 verified)

把吧爸爬疤芭靶琶笆耙粑杷鲃钯岜鈀䰾皅

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	pae	pˤra	snake
	pae	pˤra	[place name]

說文解字

《說文》：“巴，蟲也。或曰食象蛇。象形。”

Sources

Character origin: 黃德寬《古文字譜系疏證》p.1637
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

bù cotton cloth

Phonosemantic compound. 巾 represents the meaning and 父 represents the sound.

Components

父 Sound component

fù father

Change in form

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

巾 Meaning component

jīn cloth

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1 of 4 verified)

怖钸鈽佈

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	puH	pˤa-s	cloth
	puH	pˤa-s	cloth

說文解字

《說文》：“布，枲織也。从巾，父聲。”

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)

yà Asia, sub- Simplified

Original meaning: tomb

Simplified form of 亞. Depicts a wooden structure where coffins are placed. Based on the original meaning "tomb". The current meaning "Asia" is a phonetic loan.

Component uses

Sound (1 of 8 verified)

恶哑娅垩桠氩垭痖

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

晋

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

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

xīn new

Original meaning: firewood

Phonosemantic component. 辛 represents the sound, and 斤 (axe) and 木 (tree) represent the original meaning "firewood", now written as 薪. The meaning later shifted to "fresh" and "new".

Components

辛 Sound component

xīn laborious

木 Iconic component

mù tree

Depicts a tree being cut for firewood.

Change in meaning

木 hints at the original meaning of 新, "firewood", which is no longer the most common meaning of 新 in modern Mandarin.

斤 Iconic component

jīn axe

Depicts an axe cutting a tree for firewood.

Change in meaning

斤 hints at the original meaning of 新, "firewood", which is no longer the most common meaning of 新 in modern Mandarin.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1)

薪

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	sin	s.tsʰi[n]	new

說文解字

《說文》：“新，取木也。从斤，新聲。”

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)

jǐ, jī small table Simplified

Pictograph of a small table. In simplified Chinese 几 is also used to mean "how much", while in traditional Chinese this meaning is written with a separate character 幾.