开天辟地
kāi​tiān​pì​dì HSK7

epoch-making

开 kāi open Simplified

Simplified form of 開. Pictograph of two hands (廾) opening the bolt (一) on a door (門). The traditional component 門 was removed for simplification.

Components

開
門 Deleted component
mén, men door

The traditional component 門 was removed for simplification.

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a bolt on a door.

廾
廾 Iconic component
gǒng two hands

Component uses

Sound (0 of 5 verified)

邢趼锎岍汧

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

荆妍

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.836
Readings & variants
Unicode

天 tiān, tian sky

Original meaning: head

Depicts a person (大) with an emphasized head. Based on the original meaning "head". The meaning later shifted to "top", "high", and "sky".

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a head.

大
大 Iconic component
dà, dài big

Depicts a person.


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 Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 4 verified)

吞蚕忝祆

Iconic (1)

吴

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

昊

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartthenl̥ˤi[n] heaven
xenl̥ˤi[n] (W dialect: l̥ˤ- > Hàn-time *xˤ- > MC x-)heaven

說文解字

《說文》：“天，顛也。至高无上，从一、大。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.40-41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)

辟 pì, bì law Simplified

Depicts punishing a kneeling person (卩) with a curved knife (䇂).

Components

卩
卩 Iconic component
jié person kneeling
䇂
䇂 Iconic component
qiān sickle, curved blade

Depicts a curved knife used to punish criminals.

口
口 Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth

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 Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 21 verified)

避壁臂譬劈僻霹璧癖噼擘薜嬖鐾甓襞檗鸊闢擗鷿

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartbek[b]ˤek inner coffin
bjiek[N]-pek law, rule; lawful
pjiekpek ruler, prince

說文解字

《說文》：“辟，法也。从卩，从辛，節制其辠也；从口，用法者也。”

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)

地 de, dì earth

Phonosemantic compound. 土 represents the meaning and 也 represents the sound.

Components

土
土 Meaning component
tǔ earth
也
也 Sound component
yě also
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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-SagartdijH[l]ˤej-s earth, ground

說文解字

《說文》：“地，元气初分，輕、清、陽為天；重、濁、陰為地。萬物所陳列也。从土，也聲。墬，籀文地从。”

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)

開 kāi open Traditional

Pictograph of two hands (廾) opening the bolt (一) on a door (門).

Components

門
門 Iconic component
mén, men door
◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a bolt on a door.

廾
廾 Iconic component
gǒng two hands

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkhojNə-[k]ʰˤəj to open (v.i.)
khoj[k]ʰˤəj to open (v.t.)

說文解字

《說文》：“開，張也。从門，从幵。，古文開。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.836
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

闢 law Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 門 represents the meaning and 辟 represents the sound.

Components

門
門 Meaning component
mén, men door
辟
辟 Sound component
pì, bì law

Character Evolution

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 Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangbeɡ
Unicodebhiɛk

說文解字

開也。从門辟聲。

Sources

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