美国太空总署 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

měi beautiful

Pictograph of a person with ornamental headwear resembling sheep horns.

Components

羊 Iconic component

yáng sheep

Depicts ornamental headwear resembling sheep horns.

大 Iconic component

dà, dài big

Used here as a pictograph of a person.

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

镁鎂

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

羹

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	mijX	[m]rəjʔ	beautiful

說文解字

《說文》：“美，甘也。从羊，从大。”

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)

guó nation Simplified

Simplified form of 國. Phonosemantic compound. 囗 represents the meaning and 或 represents the sound.

Components

囗 Meaning component

wéi, guó surround

玉 Sound Simplified component

yù jade

Shorthand for the 或 component in the traditional character 國.

Change in sound

国 and 玉 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
国 *[C.q]ʷˤək
玉 *[ŋ](r)ok (< uvular?)

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

帼蝈掴

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

tài, tai very

Addition of a dot to 大 (dà; big) to mean "very" or "extremely".

Components

大 Sound Meaning component

dà, dài big

Change in sound

太 and 大 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
太 *l̥ˤa[t]-s
大 *lˤa[t]-s

丶 Distinguishing component

zhǔ dot

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1 of 7 verified)

态汰钛肽呔酞鈦

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	thajH	l̥ˤa[t]-s	great

說文解字

《說文》：“泰，滑也。从廾，从水，大聲。夳，古文泰。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.800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)

kōng, kòng empty

Phonosemantic compound. 穴 represents the meaning and 工 represents the sound.

Components

穴 Meaning component

xué, jué cave

工 Sound component

gōng work

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1 of 6 verified)

控腔崆倥箜焢

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	khuwng	kʰˤoŋ	hollow, empty; hole
	khuwngX	kʰˤoŋʔ	hollow, empty; hole

說文解字

《說文》：“空，竅也。从穴，工聲。”

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)

zǒng collect Simplified

Simplified form of 總. Phonosemantic compound. 糹 represents the meaning and 悤 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "bind together", since thread (糹) is used to put things together.

Components

糹 Deleted component

mì silk

悤 Sound Simplified component

cōng agitated

Component uses

Sound (1)

聪

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

shǔ public office

Components

罒 Meaning component

wǎng net or eye

network

者 Sound component

zhě one who...

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

薯曙糬

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	dzyoH	m-taʔ-s	to place; position
Zhengzhang		djas
Unicode	zhiǔ

說文解字

部署，有所网屬。从网者聲。

Sources

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

guó nation Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 囗 represents the meaning and 或 represents the sound.

Components

囗 Meaning component

wéi, guó surround

或 Sound component

huò or

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 4 verified)

膕幗蟈摑

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kwok	[C.q]ʷˤək	state (n.)

說文解字

《說文》：“國，邦也。从囗，从或。”

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)

zǒng collect Traditional

Original meaning: bind together

Phonosemantic compound. 糹 represents the meaning and 悤 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "bind together", since thread (糹) is used to put things together.

Components

糹 Meaning component

mì silk

糹 is a component form of 糸.

悤 Sound component

cōng agitated

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tsuwng	[ts]ˤoŋ	bundle of threads
	tsuwngX	[ts]ˤoŋ	bind together

說文解字

《說文》：“總，聚束也。从糸，悤聲。”

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)

美 měi beautiful

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

国 guó nation Simplified

Components

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

太 tài, tai very

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (1 of 7 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

空 kōng, kòng empty

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (1 of 6 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

总 zǒng collect Simplified

Components

Component uses

Sound (1)

Sources

署 shǔ public office

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

國 guó nation Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (0 of 4 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

總 zǒng collect Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

měi beautiful

guó nation Simplified

tài, tai very

kōng, kòng empty

zǒng collect Simplified

shǔ public office

guó nation Traditional

zǒng collect Traditional