guǐ​wèi

Guiwei year

guǐ 10th heavenly stem

Original meaning: a type of weapon

Possibly depicts a type of ancient weapon with three points on it. Based on the original meaning "a type of weapon", now written as . The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Jin 266-420 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Xin 9-23 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Xin 9-23 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Jin 266-420 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 5 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkjwijXkʷijʔ 10th heavenly stem

說文解字

《說文》:“癸,冬時水土平,可揆度也。象水從四方流入地中之形。癸承壬,象人足。,籀文从癶,从矢。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.969-970漢語多功能字庫何琳儀《戰國古文字典:戰國文字聲系》p.1189
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

wèi not yet

Original meaning: tree trunk

Similar to (tree), with extra branches added. Based on the original meaning "tree trunk", now written as . The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
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
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (4 of 5 verified)

Iconic (1)

Meaning (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartmj+jHm[ə]t-s not yet
mj+jHm[ə]t-s 8th earthly branch

說文解字

《說文》:“未,味也,六月滋味也。五行,木老於未,象木重枝葉也。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.981漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica