得道多助，失道寡助 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

de, dé, děi obtain

Depicts a hand (寸) grabbing a shell (貝), used as currency in ancient China, to convey the meaning "get". Originally written as 㝵. The 彳 (movement) component was added later.

Components

彳 Meaning component

chì, fú walk

彳 is a component form of 行.

貝 Iconic component

bèi sea shell

Change in form

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 貝 than it was in ancient scripts.

寸 Iconic component

cùn, cun (hand), inch

Depicts a hand.

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

嘚

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tok	tˤək	obtain

說文解字

《說文》：“得，行有所得也。从彳，聲。，古文省彳。”

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)

dào, dao path

Phonosemantic compound. 辶 represents the meaning and 首 represents the sound.

Components

辶 Meaning component

chuò walk

辶 is a component form of 辵.

首 Sound component

shǒu head

Change in sound

道 and 首 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
道 *lˤuʔ-s
首 *l̥uʔ-s

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1)

導

Meaning (1)

導

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	dawH	lˤuʔ-s	show the way
	dawX	[kə.l]ˤuʔ	way

說文解字

所行道也。从辵从𩠐。一達謂之道。

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

duō much

Depicts two pieces of meat together to convey the meaning "much" or "plentiful". In ancient China meat was a rare treat. Unrelated to 夕.

Components

肉 Iconic component

ròu meat

Depicts a piece of meat.

Change in form

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 肉 than it was in ancient scripts.

肉 Iconic component

ròu meat

Depicts a piece of meat.

Change in form

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 肉 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (3 of 6 verified)

移爹侈哆黟眵

Meaning (3 of 4 verified)

够夥奓夠

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	ta	[t.l]ˤaj	many

說文解字

《說文》：“多，重也。从重夕。夕者，相繹也，故為多。重夕為多，重日為。，古文多。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.557
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

zhù help

Phonosemantic compound. 力 represents the meaning and 且 represents the sound.

Components

且 Sound component

qiě moreover

Change in sound

助 and 且 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Middle Chinese.
助 dzrjoH
且 tsjo

力 Meaning component

lì, li power

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

锄鋤

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

锄鋤

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	dzrjoH	[dz]ra-s	help (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“助，左也。从力，且聲。”

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)

shī lose

Original meaning: leisure; carefree

Depicts a person with their hair loose. Based on the original meaning "leisure; carefree", now written as 佚. The meaning later shifted to "lose" and "fail".