泰晤士
Tài​wù​shì

Thames

泰 tài great

Original meaning: to slip

Depicts seizing a liquid (水) with hands (廾). 大 represents the sound. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

大
大 Sound component
dà, dài big
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 大 than it was in ancient scripts.
廾
廾 Iconic component
gǒng two hands
水
水 Iconic component
shuǐ water

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

傣

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartthajHl̥ˤa[t]-s great

說文解字

《說文》：“泰，滑也。从廾，从水，大聲。夳，古文泰。”

Sources

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

晤 wù have interview with

Phonosemantic compound. 日 represents the meaning and 吾 represents the sound.

Components

日
日 Meaning component
rì sun
吾
吾 Sound component
wú, yú, yá I, me

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartnguHŋˤak-sgo to meet
Zhengzhangŋaːs

說文解字

明也。从日吾聲。《詩》曰：“晤辟有摽。”

Sources

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

士 shì, shi scholar, soldier

Pictograph of the head of an axe. Used to represent a soldier.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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 (1 of 3 verified)

在仕悫

Meaning (3)

壮毐壯

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdzriX[m-s-]rəʔ officer; gentleman

說文解字

《說文》：“士，事也。數始於一，終於十。从一，从十。孔子曰：‘推十合一為士。’”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.59-60
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)