帅
shuài HSK4

handsome

Simplified form of 帥. Depicts two hands pulling a long, vertical object. The original meaning is variously explained as pulling with a rope, or a belt-like garment. The meaning later shifted to "lead", "commander", and "handsome".

Components

刂
刂 Simplified component
dāo knife

Shorthand for the left side of the traditional character 帥. Depicts something being pulled by two hands.

巾
巾 Iconic component
jīn cloth

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.620-621
Readings & variants
Unicode

帥 shuài handsome Traditional

Depicts two hands pulling a long, vertical object. The original meaning is variously explained as pulling with a rope, or a belt-like garment. The meaning later shifted to "lead", "commander", and "handsome".

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts something being pulled by two hands. Unrelated to 𠂤, even though it looks identical in the modern form.

巾
巾 Iconic component
jīn cloth

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 Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Jin 266-420 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsrwijHs-rut-s leader (of an army)

說文解字

《說文》:“帥,佩巾也。从巾,。帨,帥或从兌。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.620-621
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica