shè​méi

social media

shè society

Original meaning: god of soil

Originally depicted a god () of the soil (). The meaning later shifted to "shrine", "congregation", and "society".

Components

Meaning component
shì show

is a component form of .

SoundMeaning component
earth
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdzyaeXm-tʰAʔ sacrifice to the spirit of the soil

說文解字

《說文》:“社,地主也。从示、土。《春秋傳》曰:‘共工之子句龍為社神。’《周禮》:‘二十五家為社,各樹其土所宜之木。’,古文社。”

Sources

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

méi, mèi matchmaker, medium

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
nǚ, nü woman
Sound component
mǒu certain thing or person

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmwojC.mˤə match-maker, go-between

說文解字

《說文》:“媒,謀也,謀合二姓。从女,某聲。”

Sources

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