suō​lüè

abbreviate

suō contract Simplified

Components

Meaning component
silk

thread

宿
宿 Sound component
sù, xiǔ lodge, sleep overnight

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

lüè outline, approximately

Original meaning: demarcate land boundaries

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "demarcate land boundaries". The meaning later shifted to "outline" and "approximately".

Components

Meaning component
tián field
Change in meaning
hints at the original meaning of , "demarcate land boundaries", which is no longer the most common meaning of in modern Mandarin.
Sound component
each
Change in sound

Character Evolution

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
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartljak[r]ak draw a boundary; outline

說文解字

《說文》:“略,經略土地也。从田,各聲。”

Sources

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

suō contract Traditional

Components

Meaning component
silk

thread

宿
宿 Sound component
sù, xiǔ lodge, sleep overnight

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsrjuwk[s]rukshrink
Zhengzhangsruɡ
Unicodeshriuk

說文解字

亂也。从糸宿聲。一曰蹴也。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica