jì​yǐ

already

already

Original meaning: finish eating

Depicts a person, who is full, turning away () from a container of food (). Based on the original meaning "finish eating". The meaning later shifted to "complete" and "already".

Components

Iconic component
jí, bī, xiāng one grain

Depicts a container of food.

SoundIconic component
choke on something eaten

Depicts a person with their open mouth facing backwards.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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 Qin 221-206 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 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

Component uses

Sound (1 of 8 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkj+jH[k]ə[t]-s complete (v.)

說文解字

《說文》:“旣,小食也。从皀,旡聲。《論語》曰:‘不使勝食旣。’”

Sources

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

already

Original meaning: a type of snake creature

Derived from . Depicts a snake-like creature. Based on the original meaning "a type of snake creature". The current meaning "already" is a phonetic loan.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Simplified (1)

Sound (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartyiXɢ(r)əʔ cease; already

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.979
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica