掌柜的
zhǎng​guì​de

shopkeeper

掌 zhǎng, zhang palm of hand

Phonosemantic compound. 手 represents the meaning and 尚 represents the sound.

Components

尚
尚 Sound component
shàng, shang esteem
手
手 Meaning component
shǒu, shou hand

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Xin 9-23 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Xin 9-23 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

撑

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttsyangX[k.t]aŋʔ palm of the hand

說文解字

《說文》：“掌，手中也。从手，尚聲。”

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)

柜 guì cabinet, cupboard, wardrobe Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 巨 represents the sound. Simplified form of 櫃.

Components

木
木 Meaning component
mù tree
巨
巨 Sound component
jù large

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangkaʔ

說文解字

《說文》：“柜，木也。从木，巨聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

的 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
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
勺 Sound component
sháo, shuò, zhuó spoon
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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-Sagarttek[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)

櫃 cabinet, cupboard, wardrobe Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 匱 represents the sound.

Components

木
木 Meaning component
mù tree

wood

匱
匱 Sound component
empty, lacking

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartgwijH[g]ruj-s box

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart