Original meaning: waist
Pictograph of two hands grabbing a woman's (女) waist. The current meaning "want" is a phonetic loan. The original meaning "waist" is now written as 腰.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | 'jiewH | [q]ew(k)-s | important |
說文解字
《說文》：“要，身中也，象人要自之形。从，交省聲。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.183
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Simplified
Phonosemantic component. 弓 represents the meaning and 畺 represents the sound. Originally written as 彊.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | gjang | N-kaŋ | strong |
| gjangX | m-kaŋʔ | make an effort |
說文解字
《說文》：“強，蚚也。从虫，弘聲。，籀文強，从从彊。”
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)
Traditional
Phonosemantic component. 弓 represents the meaning and 畺 represents the sound. Originally written as 彊.
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | |
|---|---|---|
| Zhengzhang | ɡaŋ | |
| ɡaŋʔ | ||
| Unicode | ghiɑng | |
| ghiǎng |
說文解字
《說文》：“強，蚚也。从虫，弘聲。，籀文強，从从彊。”
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)