气凝胶
qì​níng​jiāo

aerogel

气 qì, qi air Simplified

Depicts a gust of air.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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 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

Meaning (4 of 23 verified)

汽氧氛氢氯氨氮氖氟氦氲氰氤氩氚氪氘氡氙氕氳氜氫

Sound (4)

汽忾饩氣

Iconic (1)

氣

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkhj+jHC.qʰəp-s (inhaled thing:) breath, air, vapors

說文解字

《說文》：“气，雲气也。象形。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.58-59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)

凝 níng coagulate

Phonosemantic compound. 冫 represents the meaning and 疑 represents the sound.

Components

冫
冫 Meaning component
bīng ice

冫 is a component form of 冰.

疑
疑 Sound component
yí doubt

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartnging[ŋ](r)əŋ (< uvular?)freeze, coagulate
Zhengzhangŋrɯŋ
ŋrɯŋs
Unicodengiəng
ngiəng

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

胶 jiāo glue Simplified

Tendons that connect 交 muscles ⺼; 交 also provides the pronunciation

Components

⺼
⺼ Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh
交
交 SoundMeaning component
jiāo to cross, to mix

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangɡreːw

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

氣 qì, qi air Traditional

Original meaning: gift of grain

Phonosemantic compound. 米 represents the meaning and 气 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "gift of grain", now written as 餼. The current meaning "air" is a phonetic loan.

Components

米
米 Meaning component
mǐ rice
气
气 SoundIconic component
qì, qi air

Depicts a gust of air.

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 3 verified)

餼愾滊

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkhj+jHC.qʰəp-s cloudy vapors
xj+jHqʰət-s to present food

說文解字

《說文》：“氣，饋客芻米也。从米，气聲。《春秋傳》曰：‘齊人來氣諸矦。’，氣或从既；餼，氣或从食。”

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)

膠 jiāo glue Traditional

Components

⺼
⺼ Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh

flesh

翏
翏 Sound component
liù, lù to sweep away, to remove

Character Evolution

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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkæw[k]ˤriwglue
kæwX[k]ˤriwʔglue
Zhengzhangkrɯːw
krɯːws
kʰrɯːw
Unicodegau

說文解字

昵也。作之以皮。从肉翏聲。

Sources

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