画地为牢 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

huà a painting Simplified

Pictograph of a hand holding a writing utensil (聿) and drawing something. The simplified character 画 was adapted from a variant.

Components

聿 Deleted component

yù writing brush

◎ Iconic component

characterless component

Depicts a picture being drawn.

Sources

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

de, dì earth

Phonosemantic compound. 土 represents the meaning and 也 represents the sound.

Components

土 Meaning component

tǔ earth

也 Sound component

yě also

Change in sound

地 and 也 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
地 *[l]ˤej-s
也 *lAjʔ

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	dijH	[l]ˤej-s	earth, ground

說文解字

《說文》：“地，元气初分，輕、清、陽為天；重、濁、陰為地。萬物所陳列也。从土，也聲。墬，籀文地从。”

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)

wèi, wéi do Simplified

Simplified form of 為. Pictograph of a hand (又) guiding an elephant (象) to do work (in ancient China elephants were tamed to do work). Based on the meaning "to work; to do".

Components

又 Iconic component

yòu hand

Change in form

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 又 than it was in ancient scripts.

象 Iconic Simplified component

xiàng elephant

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

伪沩

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.194
Readings & variants: Unicode

láo prison

Original meaning: pen; fence

Depicts an animal, such as a cow (牛), trapped around an animal's fence (宀).

Components

宀 Iconic component

mián roof

Originally a pictograph of an animal pen. Later reanalyzed as 宀 (roof).

牛 Iconic component

niú cow

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese
Zhengzhang		ruː
Unicode	lɑu

說文解字

《說文》：“牢，閑，養牛馬圈也。从牛，冬省，取其四周帀也。”

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

huà a painting Traditional

Pictograph of a hand holding a writing utensil (聿) and drawing something.

Components

聿 Iconic component

yù writing brush

周 Iconic component

zhōu cycle

Depicts a carved jade object.

Change in form

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 周 than it was in ancient scripts.

乂 Unknown component

yì, ài mow grass

Upper frame? of the drawing, found in the simplified form and possibly in the variant 𬚪

Change in form

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 乂 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Sound (1)

劃

Meaning (1)

劃

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	hweaH	C-gʷˤrek-s	drawing (n.)
	hweak	gʷˤrek	draw (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“畫，界也。象田四界，聿所以畫之。，古文畫省。亦古文畫。”

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)

wèi, wéi do Traditional

Originally written as 爲, which depicts a hand (又) guiding an elephant (象) to do work (in ancient China elephants were tamed to do work). Based on the meaning "to work; to do".