思维敏捷 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

sī, si think

Thought is associated with the head (囟) and heart (心). 囟 is also a phonetic component.

Components

xìn fontanel

Depicts the top of the head. The modern form of the this component looks like 田 (field), but is unrelated.

Change in sound

思 and 囟 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
思 *[s]ə
囟 *[s]ə[r]-s

Change in form

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

心 Meaning component

xīn, xin heart

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC

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

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 6 verified)

腮鳃锶缌葸鰓

Meaning (1 of 2 verified)

勰慮

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	si	[s]ə	think

說文解字

《說文》：“思，容也。从心，囟聲。”

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)

wéi hold together, maintain Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 纟 represents the meaning and 隹 represents the sound. Simplified form of 維.

Components

纟 Meaning component

mì silk

纟 is a component form of 糸.

隹 Sound component

zhuī, cuī, wéi bird

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

潍

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode

mǐn fast

Phonosemantic compound. 攵 represents the meaning and 每 represents the sound.

Components

攵 Meaning component

pū tap

攵 is a component form of 攴.

每 Sound component

měi every

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

繁鳘

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	minX	mrə[n]ʔ (~ *mrəʔ)	diligent, active

說文解字

《說文》：“敏，疾也。从攴，每聲。”

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)

jié win

Components

扌 Meaning component

shou, shǒu hand

hand

疌 Sound component

jié, qiè a type of sickness

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	dzjep	[dz][a]p	victory
Zhengzhang		zeb
Unicode	dzhiɛp

說文解字

獵也。軍獲得也。从手疌聲。《春秋傳》曰：“齊人來獻戎捷。”

Sources

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

wéi hold together, maintain Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 糹 represents the meaning and 隹 represents the sound.

Components

糹 Meaning component

mì silk

糹 is a component form of 糸.

隹 Sound component

zhuī, cuī, wéi bird

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

濰

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	ywij	ɢʷij (? < *ɢʷuj)	rope for tying

說文解字

《說文》：“維，車蓋維也。从糸，隹聲。”

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)

思 sī, si think

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (0 of 6 verified)

Meaning (1 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

维 wéi hold together, maintain Simplified

Components

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Sources

敏 mǐn fast

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

捷 jié win

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

維 wéi hold together, maintain Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

sī, si think

wéi hold together, maintain Simplified

mǐn fast

jié win

wéi hold together, maintain Traditional