文笔 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

wénbǐ

writings

wén writing

Pictograph of a man with writing (possibly a tattoo) on his chest. In later scripts the writing was abbreviated to a dot or omitted altogether.

Character Evolution

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

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

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (3 of 13 verified)

这纹玫坟蚊雯紊汶玟紋閔忞炆

Meaning (2 of 8 verified)

斑斌彦斐闵斓彥斕

Simplified (2)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	mjun	mə[n]	ornate

說文解字

《說文》：“文，錯畫也。象交文。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.706
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

bǐ writing utensil Simplified

Simplified form of 筆. Depicts a utensil for writing (聿) made from bamboo (⺮).

Components

⺮ Meaning component

zhú bamboo

⺮ is a component form of 竹.

毛 Meaning Simplified component

máo, mao hair

Shorthand for the 聿 component in the traditional character 筆.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

bǐ writing utensil Traditional

Depicts a utensil for writing (聿) made from bamboo (⺮).

Components

⺮ Meaning component

zhú bamboo

⺮ is a component form of 竹.

聿 Meaning component

yù writing brush

Character Evolution

Seal form — Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	pit	p.[r]ut (borrowed as *prut from Qín dialect)	writing brush

說文解字

《說文》：“筆，秦謂之筆。从聿，从竹。”

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)