忽必烈 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

Hūbìliè

Khubilai Khan

hū suddenly

Phonosemantic compound. 心 represents the meaning and 勿 represents the sound.

Components

勿 Sound component

wù, mò must not

Change in sound

忽 and 勿 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
忽 *m̥ˤut
勿 *mut

心 Meaning component

xīn, xin heart

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

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

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	xwot	m̥ˤut	careless; confused

說文解字

《說文》：“忽，忘也。从心，勿聲。”

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)

bì surely

Original meaning: weapon handle

Pictograph of a weapon handle, now written as 柲. 八 was later added as a decorative mark. Similar to 戈 but without the blade. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Character Evolution

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 Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Qin 221-206 BC

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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Sound (5 of 10 verified)

秘瑟泌谧宓毖铋祕謐柲

Iconic (1)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	pjit	pi[t]	necessarily

說文解字

《說文》：“必，分極也。从八、弋，弋亦聲。”

Sources

Character origin: 林志強《《文源》評注》p.441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)

liè fiery, intense

Phonosemantic compound. 灬 represents the meaning and 列 represents the sound.

Components

列 Sound component

liè arrange

灬 Meaning component

biāo, huǒ fire

灬 is a component form of 火.

Character Evolution

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Xin 9-23 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	ljet	[r]at	blazing; brilliant

說文解字

《說文》：“烈，火猛也。从火，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)