Original meaning: go out and hide
Phonosemantic compound. 彳 represents the meaning and 𢼸 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "go out and hide". The meaning later shifted to "conceal" and "tiny".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | mj+j | məj | small |
說文解字
《說文》：“微，隱行也。从彳，聲。《春秋傳》曰：‘白公其徒微之。’”
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)
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | pjun | pə[n] | divide |
| bjunH | [m]-pə[n]-s | alloted duty |
說文解字
《說文》：“分，別也。从八，从刀，刀以分別物也。”
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)
Simplified
Pictograph of a small table. In simplified Chinese 几 is also used to mean "how much", while in traditional Chinese this meaning is written with a separate character 幾.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | kijX | C.kr[ə]jʔ | stool |
說文解字
《說文》：“几，踞几也。象形。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.929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)
Original meaning: shoulder a burden
Depiction of a man carrying an axe on over his shoulders. The right side of the form was later phoneticized into 可. The current meaning "what" is a phonetic loan.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Sound (0 of 1 verified)
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | ha | [g]ˤaj | what |
說文解字
《說文》：“何，儋也。从人，可聲。”
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)
Traditional
Original meaning: danger
Depicts a weapon (戈) cutting ropes (𢆶) tied around a person (人). Based on the original meaning "danger". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | kj+j | kəj | small; almost |
| kj+jX | kəjʔ | few; how many |
說文解字
《說文》：“幾，微也，殆也。从，从戍。戍，兵守也。而兵守者危也。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.318-319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)