Original meaning: type of cloth
Composed of 爻 (cross shape) and 巾 (cloth). 爻 is here used to depict the pattern of the cloth. Originally depicted a type of cloth. The meaning later shifted to "sparse", "rare", and "hope".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | xj+j | qʰəj | thin, sparse |
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫黃德寬《古文字譜系疏證》p.2866
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | paek | pˤrak | father’s elder brother |
說文解字
《說文》：“伯，長也。从人，白聲。”
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)
Traditional
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | |
|---|---|---|
| Zhengzhang | rɯː | |
| rɯːs | ||
| Unicode | ləi |
說文解字
《說文》：“萊，蔓華也。从艸，來聲。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Zhengzhang Shangfang
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)