答疑
dá​yí

clarify doubts

答 dá, dā answer

Original meaning: small bean

Phonosemantic compound. ⺮ represents the meaning and 合 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "small bean". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

⺮
⺮ Meaning component
zhú bamboo

⺮ is a component form of 竹.

Change in meaning
⺮ hints at the original meaning of 答, "small bean", which is no longer the most common meaning of 答 in modern Mandarin.
合
合 Sound component
hé to join
Change in sound

Component uses

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

劄

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttop[t]ˤ[u]p answer

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.68
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart

疑 yí doubt

Pictograph of a person holding onto a staff, looking to the side with his mouth open, doubtful of which direction to go. The 龰 (foot) component was added later to indicate movement, and the 牛 component was added to hint at the sound.

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a person standing up, holding onto a staff, with their mouth open and looking to the side.

牛
牛 Sound component
niú cow
Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 牛 than it was in ancient scripts.
龰
龰 Meaning component
zhǐ (foot)

龰 is a component form of 止.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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 Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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

Component uses

Sound (1 of 5 verified)

凝嶷礙癡擬

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartngi[ŋ](r)ə (< uvular)doubt

說文解字

《說文》：“疑，惑也。从子、止、匕，矢聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫李学勤《字源》p.1281
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)