Original meaning: go against
Phonosemantic compound. 彳 represents the meaning and 艮 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "go against". The meaning later shifted to "fight", "ruthless", "extraordinary", and "very". Etymologically related to 狠.
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Old Chinese | |
|---|---|
| Zhengzhang | ɡɯːnʔ |
說文解字
《說文》：“很，不聽从也。一曰行難也。一曰盭也。从彳，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)
Depicts four dots, representing the meaning "few". Originally the same character as 小. The small dots possibly represent grains of sand (沙).
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | syewX | [s.t]ewʔ | few |
| syewH | [s-t]ewʔ-s | young |
說文解字
《說文》：“少，不多也。从小，丿聲。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.79
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)