绝妙
jué​miào

exquisite

绝 jué cut Simplified

Depicts a knife (刀) cutting a thread (纟). 卩 represents the sound. Simplified form of 絕.

Components

纟
纟 Iconic component
mì silk

纟 is a component form of 糸.

刀
刀 Iconic component
dāo knife
卩
卩 Sound component
jié person kneeling

Modern form looks like 巴.

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

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.888
Readings & variants
Unicode

妙 miào mysterious

Phonosemantic compound. 女 represents the meaning and 少 represents the sound.

Components

女
女 Meaning component
nǚ, nü woman
少
少 Sound component
shǎo, shao, shào few

Character Evolution

Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmjiewH[m]ew(ʔ)-s marvelous

Sources

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

絕 jué cut Traditional

Depicts a knife (刀) cutting a thread (糸). 卩 represents the sound.

Components

糹
糹 Iconic component
mì silk

糹 is a component form of 糸.

刀
刀 Iconic component
dāo knife
卩
卩 Sound component
jié person kneeling

Modern form looks like 巴.

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

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
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 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 Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdzjwet[dz]ot cut off

說文解字

《說文》：“絕，斷絲也。从糸，从刀，从卩。，古文絕，象不連體，絕二絲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.888
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)