欲加之罪，何患无辞 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

yù desire

Phonosemantic compound. 欠, depicting a person with an open mouth, represents the meaning, while 谷 represents the sound.

Components

欠 Meaning component

qiàn, qian yawn, deficient

Depicts a person with an open mouth.

谷 Sound component

gǔ valley, ravine

Character Evolution

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1)

慾

Meaning (1)

慾

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	yowk	ɢ(r)ok	desire (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“欲，貪欲也。从欠，谷聲。”

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)

jiā add

Depicts making loud noises with the mouth (口) to add power (力) during manual labor.

Components

力 Meaning component

lì, li power

口 Meaning component

kǒu, kou mouth

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (6 of 17 verified)

架驾贺嘉咖迦伽茄枷瘸袈痂珈跏笳賀駕

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

珈哿

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kae	kˤraj	add

說文解字

《說文》：“加，語相增加也。从力，从口。”

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)

zhī [attributive particle]

Original meaning: go forwards

Pictograph of a foot (止) going out of an area. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

止 Sound Iconic component

zhǐ (foot), stop

Depicts a foot.

Change in form

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

一 Iconic component

yī one

Used here to depict an area.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (2 of 3 verified)

志寺芝

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tsyi	tə	go to
	tsyi	tə	(3p object pronoun; attributive particle)

說文解字

《說文》：“之，出也。象艸過屮，枝莖益大有所之。一者，地也。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.498-499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)

zuì, zui crime

Original meaning: fishing net

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

Components

网 Meaning component

wǎng net

Change in meaning

网 hints at the original meaning of 罪, "fishing net", which is no longer the most common meaning of 罪 in modern Mandarin.

非 Sound component

fēi not

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	dzwojX	[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
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

hé what

Original meaning: shoulder a burden

Depiction of a man carrying an axe on over his shoulders. The right side of the form was later phoneticized into 可. The current meaning "what" is a phonetic loan.

Components

亻 Meaning component

rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

Change in meaning

亻 hints at the original meaning of 何, "shoulder a burden", which is no longer the most common meaning of 何 in modern Mandarin.

可 Sound component

kě able to

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

荷

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	ha	[g]ˤaj	what

說文解字

《說文》：“何，儋也。从人，可聲。”

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)

huàn suffer

Phonosemantic compound. 心 represents the meaning and 串 represents the sound.

Components

心 Meaning component

xīn, xin heart

串 Sound component

chuàn string

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

漶

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	hwænH	[ɡ]ˤro[n]-s	calamity; distress
Zhengzhang		ɡroːns
Unicode	huàn

說文解字

憂也。从心上貫吅，吅亦聲。

Sources

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

wú negative Simplified

Original meaning: dance

Pictograph of a person dancing, with ox tails or bird feathers hanging from his arms, to pray for rain. Original form of 舞 (dance). The current form is a phonetic loan. The simplified character 无 was adapted from the cursive form of the traditional character 無.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 6 verified)

抚芜妩庑呒怃

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	mju	ma	not have

說文解字

《說文》：“，亡也，从亡無聲；无，奇字无，通於元者，王育說：‘天屈西北為无。’”

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.495
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

cí words Simplified

Simplified form of 辭. Alludes to a governance (𤔔) dispute related to criminal law (辛). Based on the original meaning "litigation". The meaning later shifted to "words".

Components

舌 Simplified component

shé tongue

Shorthand for the 𤔔 component in the traditional character 亂.

辛 Meaning component

xīn laborious

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Sources

Character origin: 李学勤《字源》p.1277
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical images: Academia Sinica

wú negative Traditional

Original meaning: dance

Pictograph of a person dancing, with ox tails or bird feathers hanging from his arms, to pray for rain. Original form of 舞 (dance). The current meaning is a phonetic loan.