Depicts top and bottom teeth touching each other.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | ngae | m-ɢˤ<r>a | tooth |
說文解字
《說文》：“牙，牡齒也。象上下相錯之形。，古文牙。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.139-140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)
Simplified
Pictograph of money (貝) coming out of a netted bag (网). The simplified character 买 was adapted from the cursive form of the traditional character 買.
Components
Shorthand for the 貝 component in the traditional character 買. Shells were used as currency in ancient China.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
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)
Original meaning: flesh under the chin of a cow
Phonosemantic compound. ⺼ represents the meaning and 古 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "flesh under the chin of a cow", which later shifted to "beard" (now written as 鬍 in traditional characters). Also used pejoratively to refer to foreigners from central Asia, who tended to have more beards than Han Chinese people. This meaning also shifted to "reckless" and "outrageous".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | hu | [g]ˤa | foreigners in the north |
說文解字
《說文》：“胡，牛垂也。从肉，古聲。”
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)
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | tsew | s.tˤiw | pepper plant |
| tsjew | S.tew | pepper plant | |
| Zhengzhang | ʔsliw | ||
| Unicode | tziɛu |
Sources
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
Traditional
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | meaX | mˤrajʔ | buy |
說文解字
《說文》：“買，市也。从网、貝。《孟子》曰：‘登壟斷而网市利。’”
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)