Original meaning: raincoat made from straw or grass
Depicts a woven raincoat (衣) made from either grass or straw. Based on the original meaning "raincoat made from straw or grass", now written as 蓑. The meaning later shifted to "weaken" and "decline".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | tshwoj | [s.r̥]ˤruj | mourning clothes |
| tsrhjwe | [tsʰ]roj | reduce | |
| srwij | sruj | diminish, decline |
說文解字
《說文》：“衰，艸雨衣。秦謂之萆。从衣象形。，古文衰。”
Sources
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Original meaning: go out and hide
Phonosemantic compound. 彳 represents the meaning and 𢼸 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "go out and hide". The meaning later shifted to "conceal" and "tiny".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | mj+j | məj | small |
說文解字
《說文》：“微，隱行也。从彳，聲。《春秋傳》曰：‘白公其徒微之。’”
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)