nì​yǒu

intimate friend

greasy Simplified

Components

Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh

flesh

Sound component
èr number two

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

you, yǒu friend

Pictograph of two hands together to convey the meaning "friend". also represents the sound.

Components

SoundIconic component
yòu hand

Depicts a hand.

SoundIconic component
yòu hand

Depicts a hand.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 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 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
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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 Jin 266-420 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarthjuwX[ɢ]ʷəʔ friend

說文解字

《說文》:“友,同志為友。从二又,相交友也。,古文友。。亦古文友。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.211漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

greasy Traditional

Components

Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh

flesh

Sound component
number two

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartnrijHnri[j]-soily
Zhengzhangnis
Unicode

說文解字

上𦘺也。从肉貳聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica