按部就班
àn​bù​jiù​bān

step-by-step

按 àn press, push

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

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

安
安 Sound component
ān peaceful

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'anHʔˤa[n]-s repress

說文解字

《說文》：“按，下也。从手，安聲。”

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)

部 bù part

Original meaning: place in Gansu province

Phonosemantic compound. ⻏ represents the meaning and 咅 represents the sound.

Components

⻏
⻏ Meaning component
yì city

⻏ is a component form of 邑.

Change in meaning
⻏ hints at the original meaning of 部, "place in Gansu province", which is no longer the most common meaning of 部 in modern Mandarin.
咅
咅 Sound component
pǒu to spit out

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartbuwX[b]ˤ(r)oʔ lead (v.), govern

說文解字

天水狄部。从邑咅聲。

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)

就 jiù just，then

Original meaning: high place

Phonosemantic compound. 京 represents the meaning and 尤 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "high place". The meaning of this character has shifted over time and now means "achieve".

Components

京
京 Meaning component
jīng capital city
Change in meaning
京 hints at the original meaning of 就, "high place", which is no longer the most common meaning of 就 in modern Mandarin.
尤
尤 Sound component
yóu especially

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

鹫僦鷲

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

蹴

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdzjuwH[dz]u[k]-s go to

說文解字

《說文》：“就，就高也。从京，从尤。尤，異於凡也。，籀文就。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.454
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

班 bān group

Original meaning: divide

Depicts a knife (刂) cutting a gem into two halves (玨), based on the original meaning "to divide". The meaning later shifted to "division", "group", and "team".

Components

玨
玨 Iconic component
jué two pieces of jade joined together
刂
刂 Iconic component
dāo knife

刂 is a component form of 刀.


Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Xin 9-23 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpaenpˤ<r>an divide, distribute

說文解字

《說文》：“班，分瑞玉。从玨，从刀。”

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)