tì​zuì​gāo​yáng

scapegoat

take the place of, stand in for

Depicts two people () standing side-by-side, one person higher and one person lower. Represents one person taking the place of another. The component was added at the bottom to distinguish from , which also depicts two people standing side-by-side.

Components

Iconic component
fu, fū man
Iconic component
fu, fū man
yuē say

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartthejHn̥ˤi[t]-s discard

說文解字

《說文》:“,廢,一偏下也。从竝,白聲。暜,或从曰。,或从兟,从曰。”

Sources

Character origin
李学勤《字源》p.922-923
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

zuì, zui crime

Original meaning: fishing net

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "fishing net". The current meaning, originally written , is a phonetic loan.

Components

Meaning component
wǎng net
Change in meaning
hints at the original meaning of , "fishing net", which is no longer the most common meaning of in modern Mandarin.
Sound component
fēi not

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdzwojX[dz]ˤujʔ crime, offense

說文解字

《說文》:“罪,捕魚竹网。从网、非。秦以罪為辠字。”

Sources

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

gāo lamb

Depicts lamb () meat being cooked over a fire ().

Components

Iconic component
yáng sheep
Iconic component
biāo, huǒ fire

is a component form of .


Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangkluː

說文解字

《說文》:“羔,羊子也。从羊,照省聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

yáng sheep

Pictograph of the head of a sheep with horns.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 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

Sound (9 of 22 verified)

Meaning (5 of 11 verified)

Simplified (2)

Remnant (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartyangɢaŋ sheep

說文解字

《說文》:“羊,祥也。从,象頭角足尾之形。孔子曰:牛羊之字,以形舉也。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.298
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica