Two spoons side-by-side, conveying the meaning "to put together", "match", or "compare". 匕 also represents the sound.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | pjijX | C.pijʔ | compare |
| pjijH | pij-s | combine; all |
說文解字
《說文》：“比，密也。二人為从，反从為比。夶，古文比。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 尤梓竹《甲骨文字考釋提要（一）》p.56李学勤《字源》p.725
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Simplified
Phonosemantic compound. 刂 represents the meaning and 戈 represents the sound. In simplified Chinese 划 is also used to mean "cut, delimit, draw", while in traditional Chinese this meaning is written with a separate character 劃.
Components
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | hwae | C.[g]ʷˤraj (?) | row (v.) |
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
Traditional
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | hweak | gʷˤrek | draw (v.) |
說文解字
《說文》：“劃，錐刀曰劃。从刀，从畫，畫亦聲。”
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)