Phonosemantic compound. 糹 represents the meaning and 毚 represents the sound. Also an archaic variant form of 才.
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | |
|---|---|---|
| Zhengzhang | zlɯː | |
| zlɯːs | ||
| sraːm | ||
| Unicode | dzhəi |
說文解字
《說文》：“纔，帛雀頭色。一曰微黑色如紺。纔，淺也。讀若讒。从糸，毚聲。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Zhengzhang Shangfang
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Simplified
Original meaning: wooden post
Originally a pictograph of a wooden post, similar to 弋. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | dzoj | [dz]ˤə | talent, ability |
說文解字
《說文》：“才，艸木之初也。从丨上貫一，將生枝葉。一，地也。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.495-496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)