幺麽小丑
yāo​mó​xiǎo​chǒu

insignificant wretch

幺 yāo tiny Simplified

Pictograph of a twisted thread.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Seal form
Seal Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Iconic (7)

玄後奚胤𤔔樂𢆶

Meaning (3 of 5 verified)

幻幼兹麼茲

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

幼吆

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'ewʔˤ[i]w small (Shuōwén)

說文解字

《說文》：“幺，小也。象子初生之形。”

Sources

Character origin
黃德寬《古文字譜系疏證》p.416
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

麽 mó interrogative particle Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 么 represents the meaning and 麻 represents the sound. Variant form of 麼.

Components

么
么 Meaning component
me [question particle]
麻
麻 Sound component
má, ma hemp

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

嬷

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangmaːl
Unicodemɑ̌

說文解字

細也。从幺麻聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

小 xiǎo small

Depicts three small dots, representing the meaning "small". Originally the same character as 少. The small dots possibly represent grains of sand (沙).

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 Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (3 of 8 verified)

孙尖尘肖隙尕尜尗

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

肖県

Iconic (2)

𭕆𧴪

Simplified (1)

孙

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsjewX[s]ewʔ small

說文解字

《說文》：“小，物之微也。从八，丨見而分之。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.79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)

丑 chǒu second earthly branch; (simp.) ugly Simplified

Depicts of a hand or paw with fingernails or claws. The current meaning is a phonetic loan. In simplified Chinese 丑 is also used to mean "ugly", while in traditional Chinese this meaning is written with a separate character 醜.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Xin 9-23 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 9 verified)

纽扭羞钮妞忸狃紐鈕

Iconic (1)

羞

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

衄

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttrhjuwX[n̥]ruʔ 2d earthly branch

說文解字

《說文》：“丑，紐也。十二月，萬物動，用事。象手之形。時加丑，亦舉手時也。”

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)

么 me [question particle] Traditional

Variant form of 幺, which is a pictograph of a twisted thread.

Component uses

Meaning (1)

麽

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

仫

Historical Pronunciations

Middle Chinese
Unicodeqeu

Sources

Character origin
黃德寬《古文字譜系疏證》p.416
Readings & variants
Unicode

麼 me interrogative particle Traditional

Original meaning: thin

Phonosemantic compound. 幺 represents the meaning and 麻 represents the sound.

Components

幺
幺 Meaning component
yāo tiny
麻
麻 Sound component
má, ma hemp

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangmaːlʔ

說文解字

《說文》：“麼，細也，从幺麻聲。”

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)

醜 clown Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 鬼 represents the meaning and 酉 represents the sound.

Components

酉
酉 Sound component
yǒu wine
鬼
鬼 Meaning component
guǐ ghost

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttsyhuwXt.qʰuʔ ugly; evil
tsyhuwXt.qʰuʔ category

說文解字

可惡也。从鬼酉聲。

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)