等级 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

děng rank

Phonosemantic compound. ⺮ represents the meaning and 寺 represents the sound.

Components

⺮ Meaning component

zhú bamboo

⺮ is a component form of 竹. Alludes to an orderly arrangement of writings on bamboo strips.

寺 Sound component

sì, shì temple

Change in sound

等 and 寺 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
等 *tˤəŋʔ
寺 *s-[d]əʔ-s

Character Evolution

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tongX	tˤəŋʔ	step, grade

說文解字

《說文》：“等，齊簡也。从竹，从寺。寺，官曹之等平也。”

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫 Wiktionary
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

jí level Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 纟 represents the meaning and 及 represents the sound. Simplified form of 級.

Components

纟 Meaning component

mì silk

纟 is a component form of 糸.

及 Sound component

jí extend

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode

jí level Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 糹 represents the meaning and 及 represents the sound.

Components

糹 Meaning component

mì silk

糹 is a component form of 糸.

及 Sound component

jí extend

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kip	k(r)əp	degree, grade

說文解字

絲次弟也。从糸及聲。

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)

等 děng rank

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

级 jí level Simplified

Components

Sources

級 jí level Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

děng rank

jí level Simplified

jí level Traditional