弃若敝屣
qì​ruò​bì​xǐ

discard

弃 qì abandon Simplified

Simplified form of 棄. Pictograph of two hands (廾) putting a child (𠫓) in a basket (其) for the purpose of abandoning or disposing with it. The traditional component 其 was removed for simplification.

Components

𠫓
𠫓 Iconic component
tū, yù newborn

Upside-down form of 子 (child).

棄
其 Deleted component
qí its, his, (3p possessive)

The traditional component 其 depicting a basket was removed for simplification.

廾
廾 Iconic component
gǒng two hands

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkhjijH[kʰ]i[t]-s throw away, abandon

說文解字

《說文》：“棄，捐也。从廾推棄之，从，，逆子也。弃，古文棄。”

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)

若 ruò if

Original meaning: conform, obey

Pictograph of a kneeling person smoothing out their unkempt hair with their hands. Based on the original meaning "conform, obey". The 口 (mouth) component was added later when the character became more abstract.

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts unkempt hair.

𠂇
𠂇 Iconic component
zuǒ left hand

Depicts a hand smoothing out the hair.

口
口 Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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 Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 8 verified)

诺惹匿偌喏锘箬諾

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartnyaknak you
nyaknak agree

說文解字

《說文》：“若，擇菜也。从艸、右。右，手也。一曰杜若，香艸。”

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)

敝 bì worn out

Depicts a hand (攵) beating a cloth with specks of dust (㡀).

Components

㡀
㡀 Iconic component
bì ragged clothing

Depicts a cloth (巾) with specks of dust.

攵
攵 Iconic component
pū tap

攵 is a component form of 攴.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
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 Western Zhou ~800 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 11 verified)

蔽弊瞥撇憋鳖蹩鱉彆斃幣

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

弊蹩

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartbjiejH[b]e[t]-s destroy; worn out

說文解字

《說文》：“敝，帗也。一曰敗衣。从攴，从。亦聲。”

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)

屣 xǐ straw sandals or slippers that have no heel-backs

A person 尸 walking 彳; 徙 also provides the pronunciation

Components

尸
尸 Meaning component
shī sitting person
徙
徙 SoundMeaning component
xǐ, sī move one's abode

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangsrelʔ
srels
Unicodeshiɛ̌

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

棄 qì abandon Traditional

Pictograph of two hands (廾) putting a child (𠫓) in a basket (其) for the purpose of abandoning or disposing with it.

Components

𠫓
𠫓 Iconic component
tū, yù newborn

Upside-down form of 子 (child).

其
其 Iconic component
qí its, his, (3p possessive)

Depicts a basket.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 其 than it was in ancient scripts.
廾
廾 Iconic component
gǒng two hands
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 廾 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkhjijH[kʰ]i[t]-s throw away, abandon

說文解字

《說文》：“棄，捐也。从廾推棄之，从，，逆子也。弃，古文棄。”

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)