Jǔ​chǐ​zuò

Norma

ju carpenter's square

Depicts a person (/) holding a tool (). also represents the sound.

Components

Iconic component
fu, fū man

Depicts a person. Modern form looks like .

SoundIconic component
large

Depicts a carpenter's square.


Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkjuX[k]ʷ(r)aʔ carpenter's square

說文解字

《說文》:“巨,規巨也。从工,象手持之。榘,巨或从木、矢,矢者,其中正也。,古文巨。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.383黃德寬《古文字譜系疏證》p.1388-1389
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

chǐ traditional Chinese unit of length ~ 1 foot

Origin unclear. Possibly a pictograph of a side view of a person with a mark on their leg indicating the length of one foot.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Xin 9-23 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

Simplified (1)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttsyhektʰAk foot (measure)

說文解字

《說文》:“尺,十寸也。人手卻十分動脈為寸口。十寸為尺。尺,所以指尺榘事也。从尸,从乙,乙所識也。周制寸、尺、咫、尋、常、仞諸度量,皆以人之體為法。”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

zuò seat

Phonosemantic compound. 广 represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

广
广 Meaning component
guǎng roof
SoundMeaning component
zuò sit

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdzwaH[dz]ˤo[j]ʔ-s seat n.

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica