Original meaning: straighten
Depicts rope wrapped around two pieces of wood to keep them straight. Based on the original meaning "straighten". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | pjut | p[u]t | (negation) |
| pjut | put | gust of wind | |
| pjut | put | writing brush (pron. in Yān 燕, ap. Shuōwén, E. Hàn) |
說文解字
《說文》：“弗，撟也。从丿，从，从韋省。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.856-857李学勤《字源》p.1104
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
A village (里) is an area of land (土) where people have fields (田). In simplified Chinese 里 is also used to mean "inside", while in traditional Chinese this meaning is written with a separate character 裡.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | liX | (mə.)rəʔ | li (measure of distance); village |
說文解字
《說文》：“里，居也。从田，从土。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.913
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Simplified
Simplified form of 喬. Originally written the same as 高 (tall). The top part of the character was altered to distinguish 喬 from 高.
Components
Strokes were removed during simplification.
Change in form
Original meaning: search for
Depicts a hand (又) holding a torch (火) in a dark room (宀) looking for something. Based on the original meaning "search for", now written as 搜. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | suwX | s-ruʔ (dialect: > *sruʔ > MC srjuwX > sruwX > suwX) | old man |
說文解字
《說文》：“叜，老也。从又，从灾。闕。，籀文仌寸。，或从人。”
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: to be elevated
Originally written as 桀, which depicts two feet (舛) on top of a tree (木). 亻 (person) was later added to the character as a meaning component. Based on the original meaning, "to be elevated". The meaning later shifted to "outstanding person" and "hero".
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | gjet | N-[k]<r>at | remarkable; hero |
說文解字
《說文》：“傑，傲也。从人，桀聲。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫黃德寬《古文字譜系疏證》p.2404
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Traditional
Originally written the same as 高 (tall). The top part of the character was altered to distinguish 喬 from 高.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | gjew | [N-k](r)aw | high, tall |
說文解字
《說文》：“喬，高而曲也。从夭，从高省。《詩》曰：‘南有喬木。’”
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)