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
Sources
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
Pictograph of a hand (又) grabbing an ear (耳). In ancient China, the ears of opponents in battle were cut off and collected as tokens of victory.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | tshuwX | tsʰˤoʔ | take |
| tshjuX | tsʰoʔ | take | |
| tshjuH | [ts]ʰoʔ-s | take (a wife) |
說文解字
《說文》：“取，捕取也。从又，从耳。《周禮》：‘獲者取左耳。’《司馬法》曰：‘載獻聝。’聝者，耳也。”
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)
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
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | tshet | [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)