扶不起的阿斗 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

fú support

Phonosemantic compound. 扌 represents the meaning and 夫 represents the sound.

Components

扌 Meaning component

shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

夫 Sound component

fu, fū man

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	bju	m-[p](r)a	crawl; assist
Zhengzhang		pa
		ba
Unicode	bhio

說文解字

左也。从手夫聲。

Sources

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

bù, bu no

Original meaning: sepals

Pictograph of sepals of a flower. The modern meaning "no" is a phonetic loan.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	pjuw	pə	not
	pjuw	pə	不律 writing brush (pron. in Wú 吳 ap. Shuōwén; E. Hàn)

說文解字

《說文》：“不，鳥飛上翔不下來也。从一，一猶天也。象形。”

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)

qǐ go up

Phonosemantic compound. 走 represents the meaning and 己 represents the sound.

Components

走 Meaning component

zǒu walk

己 Sound component

jǐ self

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	khiX	C.qʰ(r)əʔ	rise (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“起，能立也。从走，巳聲。，古文起，从辵。”

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)

de, dì, dí [possessive]

Original meaning: bright

Phonosemantic compound. 白 represents the meaning and 勺 represents the sound. The character is based on the original meaning "bright".

Components

白 Meaning component

bái, bai white

Change in meaning

白 hints at the original meaning of 的, "bright", which is no longer the most common meaning of 的 in modern Mandarin.

勺 Sound component

sháo, shuò, zhuó spoon

Change in sound

的 and 勺 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
的 *[t-l]ˤewk
勺 *m-tewk

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tek	[t-l]ˤewk	bright; mark in a target

說文解字

《說文》：“旳，明也。从日，勺聲。《易》曰：‘為的顙。’”

Sources

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

ā name prefix

Original meaning: hillside

Phonosemantic compound. 阝 represents the meaning and 可 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "hillside". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

阝 Meaning component

fù hill, place

阝 is a component form of 阜.

Change in meaning

阝 hints at the original meaning of 阿, "hillside", which is no longer the most common meaning of 阿 in modern Mandarin.

可 Sound component

kě able to

Change in sound

阿 and 可 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
阿 *qˤa[j]
可 *[k]ʰˤa[j]ʔ

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1 of 6 verified)

啊婀锕屙痾錒

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	'a	qˤa[j]	slope, river bank
	'a	ʔˤa (< *qˤaj)	阿會亘 ēhuìxuān: Skt. ābhāsvara “shining” (E. Hàn)

說文解字

大陵也。一曰曲𨸏也。从𨸏可聲。

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)

dòu ladle

Pictograph of a ladle or dipper. In simplified Chinese 斗 is also used to mean "fight, struggle", while in traditional Chinese this meaning is written with a separate character 鬥.