Original meaning: sepals
Pictograph of sepals of a flower. The modern meaning "no" is a phonetic loan.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | pjuw | pə | not |
| pjuw | pə | 不律 writing brush (pron. in Wú 吳 ap. Shuōwén; E. Hàn) |
說文解字
《說文》:“不,鳥飛上翔不下來也。从一,一猶天也。象形。”
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)
Depicts catching two (二) fish at once, conveying the meaning "again". The fish component is similar to the bottom half of 冓.
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | tsojH | [ts]ˤə(ʔ)-s | twice; a second time |
說文解字
《說文》:“再,一舉而二也。从冓省。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.315-316Wiktionary
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Traditional
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | dzyi | [d]ə (~ *[d]əʔ) | time |
說文解字
《說文》:“時,四時也。从日,寺聲。旹,古文時,从之、日。”
Sources
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Traditional
Original meaning: wheat
Pictograph of a stalk of wheat. The current meaning "come" is a phonetic loan. The original meaning "wheat" is now written as 麥.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | loj | mə.rˤək (> *mə.rˤə) | a kind of wheat |
| loj | mə.rˤək (> *rˤə) | come |
說文解字
《說文》:“來,周所受瑞麥來麰,一來二縫。象芒朿之形。天所來也,故為行來之來。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.465
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)