gài​kuò​huà

generalization

gài approximately

Original meaning: rod used to level off a heaped measure

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
tree
Change in meaning
hints at the original meaning of , "rod used to level off a heaped measure", which is no longer the most common meaning of in modern Mandarin.
Sound component
already
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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-SagartkojH[k]ˤə[t]-s to strickle

說文解字

《說文》:“,斗斛。从木,既聲。邵瑛羣經正字:“今經典多作概。”

Sources

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

kuò include, enclose

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and 𠯑 represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

is a component form of .

𠯑
𠯑 Sound component
guā block the mouth

Modern form looks like .

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

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangkoːd

說文解字

《說文》:“,絜也。从手,聲。”

Sources

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

huà change

Pictograph of a right-side up person () and an upside-down person (𠤎), depicting the meaning "turn around" or "transform".

Components

Iconic component
rén person

is a component form of .

𠤎
𠤎 Iconic component
huà upside-down person

Depicts an upside-down person.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (4 of 7 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartxwaeHqʷʰˤ<r>aj-s transform

說文解字

《說文》:“化,教行也。从,从人,亦聲。”

Sources

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