Pictograph of an axe head, used as a symbol of the king's military authority.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | hjwang | ɢʷaŋ | king |
| hjwangH | ɢʷaŋ-s | be king |
說文解字
《說文》：“王，天下所歸往也。董仲舒曰：‘古之造文者，三畫而連其中謂之王。三者，天、地、人也；而參通之者，王也。’孔子曰：‘一貫三為王。’，古文王。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.52
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Original meaning: sacrificial slaughter
Depicts a weapon (我) slaughtering a pig for the purpose of sacrificing an animal for offering. The 我 component was later reanalyzed into phonetic component 義 and the component depicting the slaughtered pig was later reanalyzed as meaning component 兮. Based on the original meaning "sacrificial slaughter", now written as 犧. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | xje | ŋ̊(r)aj | (proper name) |
說文解字
《說文》：“羲，气也。从兮，義聲。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫李学勤 《字源》 p.422
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Original meaning: go forwards
Pictograph of a foot (止) going out of an area. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | tsyi | tə | go to |
| tsyi | tə | (3p object pronoun; attributive particle) |
說文解字
《說文》：“之，出也。象艸過屮，枝莖益大有所之。一者，地也。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.498-499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)