Simplified
Traditional
Original meaning: type of owl
Phonosemantic compound. 雈 represents the meaning and 臼 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "type of owl". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | gjuwH | N-kʷəʔ-s | old |
說文解字
《說文》：“舊，舊，舊留也。从萑，臼聲。鵂，舊或从鳥，休聲。”
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)
Traditional
Original meaning: bind
Phonosemantic compound. 糹 represents the meaning and 勺 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "bind". The meaning later shifted to "agreement", "restrain", "keep under control", "appointment", and "approximately".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | 'jiewH | [q]ewk-s | bond, agreement (n.) |
| 'jak | [q](r)ewk | bind (v.), make an agreement |
說文解字
《說文》：“約，纏束也。从糸，勺聲。”
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)