肌肤之亲
jī​fū​zhī​qīn

intimacy

肌 jī muscle tissue

Phonosemantic compound. ⺼ represents the meaning and 几 represents the sound.

Components

⺼
⺼ Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh

⺼ is a component form of 肉.

几
几 Sound component
jǐ, jī small table

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkijkrə[j]flesh
Zhengzhangkril
Unicodegyi

說文解字

肉也。从肉几聲。

Sources

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

肤 fū skin Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. ⺼ represents the meaning and 夫 represents the sound. Simplified form of 膚.

Components

⺼
⺼ Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh

⺼ is a component form of 肉.

夫
夫 Sound component
fu, fū man

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangpa

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

之 zhī [attributive particle]

Original meaning: go forwards

Pictograph of a foot (止) going out of an area. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

止
止 SoundIconic component
zhǐ (foot), stop

Depicts a foot.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 止 than it was in ancient scripts.
一
一 Iconic component
yī one

Used here to depict an area.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 3 verified)

志寺芝

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsyitə go to
tsyitə (3p object pronoun; attributive particle)

說文解字

《說文》：“之，出也。象艸過屮，枝莖益大有所之。一者，地也。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.498-499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)

亲 qīn, qin relatives Simplified

Original meaning: chestnut tree

Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 辛 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "chestnut". This character was repurposed during character simplification as the simplified form of 親.

Components

辛
辛 Sound component
xīn laborious
木
木 Meaning component
mù tree
Change in meaning
木 hints at the original meaning of 亲, "chestnut tree", which is no longer the most common meaning of 亲 in modern Mandarin.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Jin 266-420 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

榇親

說文解字

《說文》：“𣓀，果實如小栗。从木，辛聲。《春秋傳》曰：‘女摯不過栗。’”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

膚 fū skin Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. ⺼ represents the meaning and 盧 represents the sound.

Components

盧
盧 SoundRemnant component
rice vessel
⺼
⺼ Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpjupra skin

說文解字

《說文》：“臚，皮也。从肉，盧聲。膚，籀文臚。”

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)

親 qīn, qin relatives Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 見 represents the meaning and 亲 represents the sound.

Components

亲
亲 Sound component
qīn, qin relatives
見
見 Meaning component
jiàn, xiàn, jian see

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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
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 (1)

襯

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttshin[tsʰ]i[n] close; parents

說文解字

《說文》：“親，至也。从見，亲聲。”

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)