弱者
ruò​zhě

vulnerable people

弱 ruò weak

Original meaning: urinate

Depicts two people urinating (尿). Based on the original meaning "urinate", now written as 尿/溺. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

尿
尿 Iconic component
niào urine
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 尿 than it was in ancient scripts.
尿
尿 Iconic component
niào urine
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 尿 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

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 (1 of 3 verified)

溺搦蒻

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartnyaknewk weak

說文解字

《說文》：“弱，橈也，上象橈曲，彡象毛氂橈弱也。弱物并，故从二。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.705
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

者 zhě one who...

Original meaning: paper mulberry

Pictograph of a tree with paper mulberry leaves, now written as 楮. The distinguishing mark 口 was added later. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a tree with paper mulberry leaves. Original form of 楮.

口
口 Distinguishing component
kǒu, kou mouth

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 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 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 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (14 of 28 verified)

着都书著诸署绪猪赌屠堵睹煮奢暑褚赭渚箸锗楮翥諸豬緒書賭啫

Simplified (1)

书

Iconic (1)

楮

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttsyaeXtAʔ (nominalizing particle)

說文解字

《說文》：“者，別事詞也。从白，聲。，古文旅字。”

Sources

Character origin
林志強《《文源》評注》p.524-525李学勤《字源》p.290
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)