西装革履
xī​zhuāng​gé​lǚ

well-dressed

西 xi, xī west

西 was written two different ways in ancient scripts: (1) a pictograph of a bird's nest, and (2) a variant of the phonetically similar 囟.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Qin 221-206 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
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Jin 266-420 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 10 verified)

牺洒栖茜哂硒溧舾粞恓

Simplified (1)

晒

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsejs-nˤər west
sejs-nˤər west

說文解字

《說文》：“西，鳥在巢上，象形。日在西方而鳥棲，故因以為東西之西。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.831-832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)

装 zhuāng dress Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 衣 represents the meaning and 壮 represents the sound. Simplified form of 裝.

Components

壮
壮 Sound component
zhuàng big, strong
衣
衣 Meaning component
yī clothes

Sources

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

革 gé leather

Pictograph of an animal hide laying flat.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 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 Qin 221-206 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (6 of 26 verified)

勒鞋鞭鞘鞠靴鞍靶羁鞅靳鞑靼鞯鞣鞒鞔鞲鞮鞦羈鞏韆韃韁鞵

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

缂鞫

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

霸

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkeakkˤrək hide, skin
keakkˤrək change (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“革，獸皮治去其毛，革更之，象古文之形。，古文革，从三十，三十年為一世，而道更也。臼聲。”

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)

履 lǚ to tread on, shoes

Depicts a person (頁) using their foot (夂) to tread. 眉 was later added to embellish the character and to represent the sound while a component that depicts a shoe was also later added to 夂 (foot) to emphasize another meaning "shoes". The component that depicts a shoe was later reanalyzed as meaning component 彳 (walk).

Components

眉
眉 SoundIconicRemnant component
méi eyebrows

Depicts an eyebrow.

Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 眉 than it was in ancient scripts.
彳
彳 Meaning component
chì, fú walk

彳 is a component form of 行. Originally depicted a shoe.

頁
頁 Iconic component
yè (head), page

Depicts a head on top of a person.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 頁 than it was in ancient scripts.
夂
夂 Iconic component
zhǐ, zhōng go

夂 is a component form of 止. Depicts a foot.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 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 Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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 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

Meaning (1)

屐

Remnant (1)

屐

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartlijX[r]ijʔ tread on; sandal

說文解字

《說文》：“履，足所依也。从尸，从彳，从攵，舟象履形。一曰尸聲。，古文履从頁，从足。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫zi.tools季旭昇《說文新證》p.681-682Wiktionary
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

裝 zhuāng dress Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 衣 represents the meaning and 壯 represents the sound.

Components

壯
壯 Sound component
zhuàng big, strong
衣
衣 Meaning component
yī clothes

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangʔsraŋ
ʔsraŋs
Unicodejriɑng

說文解字

《說文》：“裝，裹也。从衣，壯聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)