fěn​shì​tài​píng

whitewash

fěn powder

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
rice
Sound component
fēn, fèn, fen divide

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Iconic (1)

Remnant (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartpjunXmə.pənʔ flour

說文解字

《說文》:“粉,傅面者也。从米,分聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

shì decorate Simplified

Components

𬲦
𬲦 Sound component
to feed
Meaning component
jīn cloth

cloth

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

tài, tai very

Addition of a dot to (dà; big) to mean "very" or "extremely".

Components

SoundMeaning component
dà, dài big
Change in sound
zhǔ dot

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 7 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartthajHl̥ˤa[t]-s great

說文解字

《說文》:“泰,滑也。从廾,从水,大聲。夳,古文泰。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.800漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

píng flat

Original meaning: to strike

Depicts using a staff () for striking. Based on the original meaning "to strike", now written as . The meaning later shifted to "level", "even", and "flat".

Components

Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts the moving motion of striking.

Iconic component
kǎo, qiǎo, yú axe handle

Depicts a staff.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (5 of 11 verified)

Meaning (1 of 3 verified)

Iconic (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartbjien[b]en distinguish; punctiious
bjaengbreŋ even (adj.)
bjaengm-breŋ make even

說文解字

《說文》:“平,語平舒也。从亏,从八。八,分也。”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

shì decorate Traditional

Components

Sound component
to feed
Meaning component
jīn cloth

cloth

Character Evolution

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 Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsyikl̥ək adorn

說文解字

《說文》:“飾,也。从巾、从人,食聲。一曰襐飾。”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica