精耕细作 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

jīng essence

Phonosemantic compound. 米 represents the meaning and 青 represents the sound.

Components

米 Meaning component

mǐ rice

青 Sound component

qīng green or blue

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	tsjeng	tseŋ	fine rice; pure

說文解字

《說文》：“精，擇也。从米，青聲。”

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)

gēng plow

Phonosemantic compound. 耒 represents the meaning and 井 represents the sound. Simplified form of 畊.

Components

耒 Meaning component

lěi handle of plow

井 Sound component

jǐng well

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kɛng	kˤ<r>eŋ	plow (v.)
Zhengzhang		kreːŋ
Unicode	gɛng

說文解字

犂也。从耒井聲。一曰古者井田。

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

xì thin, fine Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 纟 represents the meaning and 囟 represents the sound. Simplified form of 細.

Components

纟 Meaning component

mì silk

纟 is a component form of 糸.

囟 Sound component

xìn fontanel

Modern form looks like 田.

Change in form

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

說文解字

耕也。从土豤聲。

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

zuò make

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 乍 represents the sound.

Components

亻 Meaning component

rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

乍 Sound component

zhà, zuò suddenly

Change in sound

作 and 乍 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
作 *[ts]ˤak-s
乍 *[dz]ˤrak-s

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1)

做

Meaning (1)

做

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tsak	[ts]ˤak	do, work
	tsuH	[ts]ˤak-s	do, work

說文解字

《說文》：“作，起也。从人，从乍。”

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)

xì thin, fine Traditional

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

Components

糹 Meaning component

mì silk

糹 is a component form of 糸.

囟 Sound component

xìn fontanel

Modern form looks like 田.

Change in form

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

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	sejH	[s]ˤe(k)-s	small, minute

說文解字

《說文》：“細，微也。从糸，囟聲。”

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)

精 jīng essence

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

耕 gēng plow

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

细 xì thin, fine Simplified

Components

說文解字

Sources

作 zuò make

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (1)

Meaning (1)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

細 xì thin, fine Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

jīng essence

gēng plow

xì thin, fine Simplified

zuò make

xì thin, fine Traditional