Original meaning: offer a delicacy
Depicts a hand (丑) holding sheep meat (羊). Based on the original meaning "offer a delicacy", now written as 饈. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | sjuw | s-nu | shame |
說文解字
《說文》：“羞，進獻也。从羊，羊所進也；从丑，丑亦聲。”
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)
Simplified
Original meaning: wind instrument
Pictograph of a musical wind instrument with a reed, which is now written as 竽. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | hju | ɢʷ(r)a | go; at |
| hju | ɦʷa (< *ɢʷ(r)a) | 單于 chányú: Xiōngnú ruler (W. Hàn) |
說文解字
《說文》：“于，於也。象气之舒于。从丂，从一。一者，其气平之也。”
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)
Simplified
Simplified form of 啟. Depicts a hand (又) opening a door (户) of an opening (口). The 又 (hand) component was later removed for simplification.
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | khejX | kʰˤijʔ | open (v.) |
說文解字
《說文》：“启，開也。从戶，从口。”
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)
Simplified
Components
𠚕 IconicSimplified component
Depicts a mouth full of teeth.
Traditional
Originally a variant form of 烏, which is a pictograph of a crow. The current use as a function word is a phonetic loan.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | 'u | [ʔ]ˤa | oh! |
| 'jo | [ʔ]a | at (locative preposition) |
說文解字
《說文》：“烏，孝鳥也。象形。孔子曰：‘烏，呼也。’取其助气，故以為烏呼。，古文烏，象形。於，象古文烏省。”
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)
Traditional
Depicts a hand (又) opening a door (户) of an opening (口). The 又 (hand) component was later reanalyzed as meaning component 攵.
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | khejX | kʰˤijʔ | open (v.) |
| Zhengzhang | kʰeːʔ |
說文解字
《說文》：“啟，教也。从攴，启聲。《論語》曰：‘不憤不啟。’”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Traditional
Pictograph of a mouth full of teeth. The sound component 止 was added later.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | tsyhiX | t-[k]ʰə(ŋ)ʔ (or *t.ŋ̊əʔ) | front teeth |
說文解字
《說文》：“齒，口齗骨也。象口齒之形。止聲。，古文齒字。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.139
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)