Original meaning: overflow
Depicts water (水) filling up a container (皿). Based on the original meaning "overflow", now written as 溢. The meaning later shifted to "increase" and "benefit".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | 'jiek | q[i]k (dialect: *-ik > *-ek) | increase |
說文解字
《說文》：“益，饒也。从水、皿。皿，益之意也。”
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)
Pictograph of two hands together to convey the meaning "friend". 又 also represents the sound.
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | hjuwX | [ɢ]ʷəʔ | friend |
說文解字
《說文》：“友，同志為友。从二又，相交友也。，古文友。。亦古文友。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.211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)