羊皮纸
yáng​pí​zhǐ

parchment

羊 yáng sheep

Pictograph of the head of a sheep with horns.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (9 of 22 verified)

样养洋详祥氧翔痒佯羌恙庠烊羟養蛘徉羰詳羕鯗羥

Meaning (5 of 11 verified)

义群善姜羚咩羯義羝羴羍

Iconic (7)

美羞羡羌羔茍羨

Simplified (2)

样义

Remnant (1)

茍

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartyangɢaŋ sheep

說文解字

《說文》：“羊，祥也。从，象頭角足尾之形。孔子曰：牛羊之字，以形舉也。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.298
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

皮 pí skin

Pictograph of a hand (又) peeling off the skin from an animal.

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts an animal with its skin being peeled off.

又
又 Iconic component
yòu hand

Depicts a hand.


Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 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
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (5 of 15 verified)

被破波彼坡颇玻疲披簸跛陂铍帔頗

Meaning (0 of 7 verified)

皱披皴皲皰皺皻

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartbjem-[p](r)aj skin

說文解字

《說文》：“皮，剝取獸革者謂之皮。从又，為省聲。，古文皮。，籀文皮。”

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)

纸 zhǐ paper Simplified

Simplified form of 紙. Phonosemantic compound. 糹 represents the meaning and 氏 represents the sound.

Components

纟
纟 Meaning component
mì silk

纟 is a component form of 糸.

氏
氏 Sound component
shì clan

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

紙 zhǐ paper Traditional

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

Components

糹
糹 Meaning component
mì silk

糹 is a component form of 糸.

氏
氏 Sound component
shì clan

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttsyeXk.teʔ paper

說文解字

《說文》：“紙，絮一笘也。从糸，氏聲。”

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)