Original meaning: male criminal
Depicts a tool (辛) piercing through a person's eye (目). This was usually given as punishment to criminals. 東 was added later to represent the sound. Based on the original meaning "male criminal". The meaning later shifted to "boy servant" (now written as 僮) and "child".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | duwng | [d]ˤoŋ | boy |
說文解字
《說文》：“童，男有辠曰奴，奴曰童。女曰妾。从，重省聲。，籀文童，中與中同从。，以為古文疾字。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.166漢語多功能字庫陳靖《兩周古文字編注》p.855
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Original meaning: search for
Depicts a hand (又) holding a torch (火) in a dark room (宀) looking for something. Based on the original meaning "search for", now written as 搜. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | suwX | s-ruʔ (dialect: > *sruʔ > MC srjuwX > sruwX > suwX) | old man |
說文解字
《說文》：“叜，老也。从又，从灾。闕。，籀文仌寸。，或从人。”
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)
Simplified
Original meaning: dance
Pictograph of a person dancing, with ox tails or bird feathers hanging from his arms, to pray for rain. Original form of 舞 (dance). The current form is a phonetic loan. The simplified character 无 was adapted from the cursive form of the traditional character 無.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | mju | ma | not have |
說文解字
《說文》：“，亡也，从亡無聲；无，奇字无，通於元者，王育說：‘天屈西北為无。’”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.495
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | khi | kʰ(r)ə | to deceive, cheat |
說文解字
《說文》：“欺，詐欺也。从欠，其聲。”
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: dance
Pictograph of a person dancing, with ox tails or bird feathers hanging from his arms, to pray for rain. Original form of 舞 (dance). The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | mju | ma | not have |
| mju | ma | volitional prefix | |
| mju | mo | don’t |
說文解字
《說文》：“，豐也。从林、。或說規模字。从大；，數之積也；林者，木之多也。與庶同意。《商書》曰：｀庶草繁無’。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.495
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)