Simplified
Original meaning: dance
Pictograph of a person dancing, with ox tails or bird feathers hanging from his arms, to pray for rain. Original form of 舞 (dance). The current form is a phonetic loan. The simplified character 无 was adapted from the cursive form of the traditional character 無.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | mju | ma | not have |
說文解字
《說文》：“，亡也，从亡無聲；无，奇字无，通於元者，王育說：‘天屈西北為无。’”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.495
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Original meaning: carry
Depicts a person (人) carrying something.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | yiX | ləʔ | take, use |
說文解字
《說文》：“，用也。从反已。賈侍中說，已，意已實也。象形。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.980
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Simplified
Simplified
Traditional
Original meaning: dance
Pictograph of a person dancing, with ox tails or bird feathers hanging from his arms, to pray for rain. Original form of 舞 (dance). The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | mju | ma | not have |
| mju | ma | volitional prefix | |
| mju | mo | don’t |
說文解字
《說文》：“，豐也。从林、。或說規模字。从大；，數之積也；林者，木之多也。與庶同意。《商書》曰：｀庶草繁無’。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.495
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Traditional
Originally written as 爲, which depicts a hand (又) guiding an elephant (象) to do work (in ancient China elephants were tamed to do work). Based on the meaning "to work; to do".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Sound (0 of 1 verified)
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | hjwe | ɢʷ(r)aj | make, do, act as |
| hjweH | ɢʷ(r)aj-s | for, because |
說文解字
《說文》：“爲，母猴也，其爲禽好爪，爪，母猴象也；下腹爲母猴形。王育曰：‘爪，象形也。’，古文爲，象兩母猴相對形。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.194
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Traditional
Original meaning: punish
Depicts a person being subdued (𠬝) by shackles (㚔). Based on the original meaning "punish". The meaning later shifted to "revenge", "recompense", "report", and "announce".
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | pawH | pˤuk-s | repay |
說文解字
《說文》：“報，當罪人也。从，从。，服罪也。”
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)