拿得起放得下 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

ná take

Originally written as a hand (手) taking an object. Later written as 拏 with the phonetic 奴 component added. Later the 奴 component was corrupted to 合.

Components

奴 Sound component

nú slave

Later corrupted to the visually similar character 合.

手 Meaning component

shǒu, shou hand

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

镎

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

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

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)

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)

fàng put

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

Components

方 Sound component

fāng, fang square

攵 Meaning component

pū tap

攵 is a component form of 攴. Depicts a hand.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	pjangX	paŋʔ	imitate
	pjangH	paŋ-s	release; let go

說文解字

《說文》：“放，逐也。从攴，方聲。”

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)

xià, xia under

Originally a small line or dot below a longer line, indicating "down". The vertical line was added to distinguish the character from 二 (two). Opposite of 上.