shī​shì​zhě

agent

shī grant, bestow

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
yǎn flags flying
Sound component
also
Change in sound

Character Evolution

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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsyel̥aj give, bestow

說文解字

《說文》:“施,旗皃。从,也聲。亝欒施字子旗,知施者旗也。”

Sources

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

shì, shi matter

The characters (history), (government official), 使 (cause; use; instruct), and (matter; work; affair) are all etymologically related and all derive from the same ancient character, depicting a hand () holding a container for writing utensils. and were originally written the same, but later an extra mark was added to distinguish them.

Components

characterless component

Mark added to distinguish from .

Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a container for writing utensils.

Iconic component
yòu hand

Depicts a hand.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdzriH[m-s-]rəʔ-s serve; service, affair

說文解字

《說文》:“事,職也。从史,之省聲。,古文事。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.214
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

zhě one who...

Original meaning: paper mulberry

Pictograph of a tree with paper mulberry leaves, now written as . The distinguishing mark was added later. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a tree with paper mulberry leaves. Original form of .

kǒu, kou mouth

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 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 Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Simplified (1)

Iconic (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttsyaeXtAʔ (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