有丝分裂
yǒu​sī​fēn​liè

mitosis

有 yǒu have

Depicts a hand (又) holding meat (肉). In Oracle script this character was written the same as the phonetically similar 又, but later the 肉 component was added to distinguish them.

Components

又
又 SoundIconic component
yòu hand
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 又 than it was in ancient scripts.
肉
肉 Iconic component
ròu meat

Deceptively similar but unrelated to the character for moon (月).

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 肉 than it was in ancient scripts.

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 Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 9 verified)

郁囿宥鲔侑铕洧鮪迶

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

贿賄

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarthjuwX[ɢ]ʷəʔ have, exist

說文解字

《說文》：“有，不宜有也。《春秋傳》曰：‘日月有食之。’从月，又聲。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.550
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

丝 sī silk, threads Simplified

Simplified form of 絲. Duplication of 纟 (silk).

Components

纟
纟 Iconic component
mì silk

纟 is a component form of 糸.

纟
纟 Iconic component
mì silk

纟 is a component form of 糸.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

咝鸶

Iconic (1)

㡭

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

分 fēn, fèn, fen divide

Depicts a knife (刀) being used to cut two things apart (八).

Components

八
八 SoundIconic component
bā eight

Depicts two things being separated.

Change in sound
刀
刀 Iconic component
dāo knife

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (6 of 23 verified)

份纷贫粉芬扮氛盆盼吩颁忿汾酚玢棼邠坌貧鼢紛頒棻

Meaning (0 of 6 verified)

贫颁岔掰貧頒

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpjunpə[n] divide
bjunH[m]-pə[n]-s alloted duty

說文解字

《說文》：“分，別也。从八，从刀，刀以分別物也。”

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)

裂 liè split

Phonosemantic compound. 衣 represents the meaning and 列 represents the sound.

Components

衣
衣 Meaning component
yī clothes
列
列 Sound component
liè arrange

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartljet[r]atto cut, split
Zhengzhangred
Unicodeliɛt

說文解字

繒餘也。从衣𠛱聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

絲 sī silk, threads Traditional

Duplication of 糸 (silk).

Components

糹
糹 Iconic component
mì silk

糹 is a component form of 糸.

糸
糸 Iconic component
mì, sī silk

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (1)

䜌

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsi[s]ə silk

說文解字

《說文》：“絲，蠶所吐也。从二糸。”

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)