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
Original meaning: bird trap
Phonosemantic compound. 网 represents the meaning and 干 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "bird trap". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Iconic (1)
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | xanX | qʰˤa[r]ʔ | rare |
| xanX | qʰˤa[r]ʔ | net |
說文解字
《說文》：“，网也。从网，干聲。”
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)