Pictograph of two hands together to convey the meaning "friend". 又 also represents the sound.
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | hjuwX | [ɢ]ʷəʔ | friend |
說文解字
《說文》：“友，同志為友。从二又，相交友也。，古文友。。亦古文友。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.211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)
Original meaning: hallway
Pictograph of a hallway, now written as 廊. The character is based on the original meaning "hallway". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | ljang | [r]aŋ | good |
說文解字
《說文》：“良，善也。从畗省，亡聲。”
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)
Original meaning: pair of strings of jade
Depicts a pair of strings of jade mounted together. The meaning later shifted to "friend". Not related to 月 (moon), despite the visual similarity.
Character Evolution
Traditional
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | tsyijH | [t]ip-s | seize |
| Zhengzhang | tjibs |
說文解字
握持也。从手从執。
Sources
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)