tán​zhǐ

great happiness

tán deep pool

Components

Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

water

Sound component
tán, qín, yǎn reach to

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdom[l]ˤ[ə]mdeep, pond
Zhengzhangl'ɯːm
lɯmʔ
Unicodedhom

說文解字

水。出武陵鐔成玉山,東入鬱林。从水覃聲。

Sources

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

zhǐ happiness

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
shì show

is a component form of .

Sound component
zhǐ (foot), stop

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttrhiX[tʰ]rəʔblessings
Zhengzhangkʰlɯʔ

說文解字

福也。从示止聲。

Sources

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