罄笔难书 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

qìng exhaust

Phonosemantic compound. 缶 represents the meaning and 殸 represents the sound.

Components

缶 Meaning component

fǒu pottery

殸 Sound component

qìng, kēng, shēng stone chimes

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	khengH	[kʰ]ˤeŋ-s	empty; exhaustively
Zhengzhang		kʰeːŋs

說文解字

器中空也。从缶殸聲。殸，古文磬字。《詩》云：“缾之罄矣。”

Sources

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

bǐ writing utensil Simplified

Simplified form of 筆. Depicts a utensil for writing (聿) made from bamboo (⺮).

Components

⺮ Meaning component

zhú bamboo

⺮ is a component form of 竹.

毛 Meaning Simplified component

máo, mao hair

Shorthand for the 聿 component in the traditional character 筆.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

滗

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

nán, nan, nàn difficult Simplified

Original meaning: type of bird

Simplified form of 難. Phonosemantic compound. 隹 represents the meaning and 𦰩 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "type of bird". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

又 Simplified component

yòu again

Shorthand for the 𦰩 component in the traditional character 難.

隹 Meaning component

zhuī, cuī, wéi bird

Component uses

Sound (2 of 4 verified)

滩摊瘫傩

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

shū book Simplified

Simplified form of 書. Phonosemantic compound. 聿 represents the meaning and 者 represents the sound. The simplified character 书 is derived from the cursive form of 書.

Components

聿 Meaning Simplified component

yù writing brush

者 Sound Simplified component

zhě one who...

Change in sound

书 and 者 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in older Chinese.

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode

bǐ writing utensil Traditional

Depicts a utensil for writing (聿) made from bamboo (⺮).

Components

⺮ Meaning component

zhú bamboo

⺮ is a component form of 竹.

聿 Meaning component

yù writing brush

Character Evolution

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	pit	p.[r]ut (borrowed as *prut from Qín dialect)	writing brush

說文解字

《說文》：“筆，秦謂之筆。从聿，从竹。”

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)

nán, nan, nàn difficult Traditional

Original meaning: type of bird

Phonosemantic compound. 隹 represents the meaning and 𦰩 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "type of bird". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.