虚应故事
xū​yìng​gù​shì

go through motions

虚 xū void, false Simplified

Simplified form of 虛. Phonosemantic compound. 虍 represents the sound and 丘 represents the meaning.

Components

虍
虍 Sound component
hū tiger
业
业 Simplified component
yè profession

Shorthand for the 丘 component in the traditional character 虛.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 6 verified)

墟嘘觑魖歔覷

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

应 yīng, yìng, ying should Simplified

Simplified form of 應. Phonosemantic compound. 心 represents the meaning and 䧹 represents the sound.

Components

心
心 MeaningSimplified component
xīn, xin heart
䧹
䧹 SoundSimplified component
yīng eagle

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

故 gù incident, happening, cause

Phonosemantic compound. 攵 represents the meaning and 古 represents the sound.

Components

古
古 Sound component
gǔ old
攵
攵 Meaning component
pū tap

攵 is a component form of 攴.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkuHkˤa(ʔ)-s fact; reason
kuHkˤaʔ-s old (not new)

說文解字

《說文》：“故，使為之也。从攴，古聲。”

Sources

Character origin
李学勤《字源》p.250
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

事 shì, shi matter

The characters 史 (history), 吏 (government official), 使 (cause; use; instruct), and 事 (matter; work; affair) are all etymologically related and all derive from the same ancient character, depicting a hand (又) holding a container for writing utensils. 事 and 史 were originally written the same, but later an extra mark was added to distinguish them.

Components

◎
◎ Distinguishing component
characterless component

Mark added to distinguish 事 from 史.

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a container for writing utensils.

又
又 Iconic component
yòu hand

Depicts a hand.

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 Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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
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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdzriH[m-s-]rəʔ-s serve; service, affair

說文解字

《說文》：“事，職也。从史，之省聲。，古文事。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.214
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

虛 xū void, false Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 虍 represents the sound and 丘 represents the meaning.

Components

虍
虍 Sound component
hū tiger
丘
丘 Meaning component
qiū hill
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 丘 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

噓

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkhjoC.qʰ(r)a hill, mound; abandoned city
xjoqʰ(r)a empty

說文解字

《說文》：“虛，大丘也。崐崘丘謂之崐崘虛，古者九夫為井，四井為邑，四邑為丘，丘謂之虛。从丘，虍聲。”

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)

應 yīng, yìng, ying should Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 心 represents the meaning and 䧹 represents the sound.

Components

心
心 Meaning component
xīn, xin heart
䧹
䧹 Sound component
yīng eagle

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'ing[q](r)əŋ ought

說文解字

《說文》：“應，當也。从心，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)