Original meaning: to strike
Depicts using a staff (丂) for striking. Based on the original meaning "to strike", now written as 抨. The meaning later shifted to "level", "even", and "flat".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | bjien | [b]en | distinguish; punctiious |
| bjaeng | breŋ | even (adj.) | |
| bjaeng | m-breŋ | make even |
說文解字
《說文》：“平，語平舒也。从亏，从八。八，分也。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 王森《甲骨文、金文所谓“乎”字当释为“平”字》
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Simplified
Phonosemantic compound. 頁 represents the meaning and 豆 represents the sound. The simplified character 头 was adapted from the cursive form of the traditional character 頭.
Components
豆 SoundSimplified component
頁 IconicSimplified component
Depicts a head on top of a person.
Original meaning: to sing
Duplicate of 可, which has a similar sound. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | |
|---|---|---|
| Zhengzhang | kaːl | |
| Unicode | gɑ |
說文解字
《說文》：“哥，聲也。从二可。古文以為謌字。”
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)
Traditional
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | duw | [m-t]ˤo | head |
說文解字
《說文》：“頭，首也。从頁，豆聲。”
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)