Phonosemantic compound. 手 represents the meaning and 樊 represents the sound. Originally written as 𠬜, which depicts two hands facing away from each other, representing the action of climbing.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | phaen | pʰˤran | pull oneself up |
說文解字
《說文》：“，引也。从反廾。，或从手从樊。”
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)
Components
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | ngæm | [ŋ]ˤr[a]m (< uvular?) | rocky, lofty |
| Zhengzhang | ŋraːm | ||
| Unicode | ngam |
Sources
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Original meaning: paper mulberry
Pictograph of a tree with paper mulberry leaves, now written as 楮. The distinguishing mark 口 was added later. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Components
口 Distinguishing component
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | tsyaeX | tAʔ | (nominalizing particle) |
說文解字
《說文》：“者，別事詞也。从白，聲。，古文旅字。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 林志強《《文源》評注》p.524-525李学勤《字源》p.290
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)