盗窃罪
dào​qiè​zuì

crime of theft

盗 dào rob Simplified

Simplified form of 盜. Depicts a gluttonous person drooling (㳄) for food inside of a dish (皿). The meaning later shifted to "steal", "rob", and "bandit".

Components

㳄
㳄 IconicRemnant component
xián spit, saliva

Depicts saliva (氵) coming from a person with an open mouth (欠). Modern form looks like 次.

皿
皿 Iconic component
mǐn, mǐng dish

Depicts a dish with food in it.

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫中華語文知識庫zi.tools
Readings & variants
Unicode

窃 qiè secretly Simplified

Original meaning: to steal rice

Phonosemantic compound. 穴 represents the meaning and 切 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "to steal rice". The meaning of this character has shifted over time and now means "secretly". Simplified form of 竊.

Components

穴
穴 Meaning component
xué, jué cave
切
切 Sound component
qiè, qiē cut

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

罪 zuì, zui crime

Original meaning: fishing net

Phonosemantic compound. 网 represents the meaning and 非 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "fishing net". The current meaning, originally written 辠, is a phonetic loan.

Components

网
网 Meaning component
wǎng net
Change in meaning
网 hints at the original meaning of 罪, "fishing net", which is no longer the most common meaning of 罪 in modern Mandarin.
非
非 Sound component
fēi not

Character Evolution

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
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdzwojX[dz]ˤujʔ crime, offense

說文解字

《說文》：“罪，捕魚竹网。从网、非。秦以罪為辠字。”

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)

盜 dào rob Traditional

Depicts a gluttonous person drooling (㳄) for food inside of a dish (皿). The meaning later shifted to "steal", "rob", and "bandit".

Components

㳄
㳄 Iconic component
xián spit, saliva

Depicts saliva (氵) coming from a person with an open mouth (欠).

皿
皿 Iconic component
mǐn, mǐng dish

Depicts a dish with food in it.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Qin 221-206 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdawH[d]ˤaw(k)-s steal

說文解字

《說文》：“盜，私利物也。从，欲皿者。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫中華語文知識庫zi.tools
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

竊 qiè secretly Traditional

Original meaning: to steal rice

Phonosemantic compound. 穴 represents the meaning and 䊪 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "to steal rice". The meaning of this character has shifted over time and now means "secretly".

Components

穴
穴 Meaning component
xué, jué cave
䊪
䊪 SoundMeaning component
lì unpolished rice

Character Evolution

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
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttshet[tsʰ]ˤet steal

說文解字

《說文》：“竊，盜自中出曰竊。从穴、从米，、廿皆聲。廿，古文疾；，古文偰。”

Sources

Character origin
李学勤《字源》p.648季旭昇《說文新證》p.580-581
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)