环顾四周
huán​gù​sì​zhōu

look around

环 huán jade ring or bracelet Simplified

Simplified form of 環. Phonosemantic compound. 玉 represents the meaning and 睘 represents the sound.

Components

𤣩
𤣩 Meaning component
yù jade
不
不 Simplified component
bù, bu no

Shorthand for the 睘 component in the traditional character 環.

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

顾 gù look back, look after Simplified

Simplified form of 顧. Phonosemantic compound. 頁 represents the meaning and 雇 represents the sound.

Components

厄
厄 Simplified component
è adversity, distress

Shorthand for the 雇 component in the traditional character 顧.

页
页 Meaning component
yè page

Depicts a head.

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

四 sì four

In ancient texts the character 亖 (four horizontal strokes) was used. The current form 四 depicts breathing through the nose and is the original form of 呬. The use of 四 as a number is a phonetic loan.

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
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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
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 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 Jin 266-420 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 4 verified)

泗驷呬駟

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

驷駟

Iconic (1)

呬

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsijHs.li[j]-s four

說文解字

《說文》：“四，陰數也。象四分之形。，古文四。亖，籀文四。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.948
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

周 zhōu cycle

Original meaning: to carve jade

Depicts a carved jade object, now written as 彫/琱. The meaning later shifted to "circumference" and "cycle". Later the 口 component was added when 周 was used to refer to a geographical region to indicate that the character was only "mouthed", i.e. used for its sound. In simplified Chinese 周 is also used to mean "week", while in traditional Chinese this meaning is written with a separate character 週.

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a jade object that has been carved.

口
口 Distinguishing component
kǒu, kou mouth

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 18 verified)

调雕绸稠碉凋惆調啁鲷鵰週赒蜩鯛椆綢賙

Iconic (1)

畫

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsyuwtiw Zhōu (dynasty and place)
tsyuwtiw cycle; all around

說文解字

《說文》：“周，密也。从用、口。，古文周字从古文及。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.99-100林志強《《文源》評注》p.134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)

環 huán jade ring or bracelet Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 玉 represents the meaning and 睘 represents the sound.

Components

𤣩
𤣩 Meaning component
yù jade
睘
睘 Sound component
qióng round
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarthwaenC.ɢʷˤ<r>en ring (n.)

說文解字

《說文》：“環，璧也。肉好若一謂之環。从玉，睘聲。”

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)

顧 gù look back, look after Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 頁 represents the meaning and 雇 represents the sound.

Components

雇
雇 Sound component
gù employ
頁
頁 Meaning component
yè (head), page

Depicts a head.

Character Evolution

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 Qin 221-206 BC
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 Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkuH[k]ʷˤaʔ-s
(~ *[k]ʷˤaʔ)		look around

說文解字

《說文》：“顧，還視也。从頁，雇聲。”

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)