补贴 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

bǔtiē HSK5

allowance

bǔ mend, patch Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 衤 represents the meaning and 卜 represents the sound. Simplified form of 補.

Components

衤 Meaning component

yī clothes

衤 is a component form of 衣.

卜 Sound component

bo fortune telling

Sources

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

tiē paste to Simplified

Original meaning: to compensate, subsidize

Phonosemantic compound. 贝 represents the meaning and 占 represents the sound. Simplified form of 貼.

Components

贝 Meaning component

bèi sea shell

In ancient China shells were used as currency.

Change in meaning

贝 hints at the original meaning of 贴, "to compensate, subsidize", which is no longer the most common meaning of 贴 in modern Mandarin.

占 Sound component

zhàn divine

Change in sound

贴 and 占 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Middle Chinese.
贴 thep
占 tsyem

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

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

bǔ mend, patch Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 衤 represents the meaning and 甫 represents the sound.

Components

衤 Meaning component

yī clothes

衤 is a component form of 衣.

甫 Sound component

fu begin

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	puX	[Cə]-pˤaʔ	to patch

說文解字

《說文》：“補，完衣也。从衣，甫聲。”

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)

tiē to paste Traditional

Original meaning: to compensate, subsidize

Phonosemantic compound. 貝 represents the meaning and 占 represents the sound.

Components

貝 Meaning component

bèi sea shell

In ancient China shells were used as currency.

Change in meaning

貝 hints at the original meaning of 貼, "to compensate, subsidize", which is no longer the most common meaning of 貼 in modern Mandarin.

占 Sound component

zhàn divine

Change in sound

貼 and 占 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Middle Chinese.
貼 thep
占 tsyem

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	thep	[tʰ]ˤ[e]p	paste (v.) [not in GSR]

說文解字

《說文新附》：“貼，以物為質也。从貝，占聲。”

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)

补 bǔ mend, patch Simplified

Components

Sources

贴 tiē paste to Simplified

Components

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

補 bǔ mend, patch Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

貼 tiē to paste Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

bǔ mend, patch Simplified

tiē paste to Simplified

bǔ mend, patch Traditional

tiē to paste Traditional