Original meaning: jade ornament
Possibly depicts using a blade (䇂) to engrave a block of jade. Based on the original meaning "jade ornament", now written as 璋. Later the meaning shifted to "seal" and "chapter".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | tsyang | taŋ | brilliant; distinctive mark; to display |
說文解字
《說文》：“章，樂竟為一章。从音，从十。十，數之終也。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 李学勤《字源》p.198
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Simplified
Traditional
Original meaning: law
Depicts carving inscriptions on bronzeware (鼎) with a knife (刂). Based on the original meaning "law". In ancient China, some legal writings were inscribed on bronzeware.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | tsok | [ts]ˤək | then |
| tsok | [ts]ˤək | rule, pattern |
說文解字
《說文》：“則，等畫物也。从刀，从貝。貝，古之物貨也。，古文則。，亦古文則。，籀文則从鼎。”
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)