guī​lǜ HSK4

law

guī rules Simplified

Original meaning: compass; a kind of drawing tool

Simplified form of . Depicts a kind of drawing tool for drawing circles with. The (see) component was later added to suggest watching something being drawn. Based on the original meaning "compass; a kind of drawing tool", now written as . The meaning has shifted over time and now means "rules".

Components

Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a compass or a kind of drawing tool. Modern form looks like unrelated .

Meaning component
jiàn, xiàn, jian see

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

law

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
chì, fú walk

is a component form of .

SoundMeaning component
writing brush

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
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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartlwit[r]ut law, rule (n.)
lwit[r]ut 不律 writing brush (pron. in Wú 吳 ap. Shuōwén; E. Hàn)

說文解字

《說文》:“律,均布也。从彳,聿聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

guī rules Traditional

Original meaning: compass; a kind of drawing tool

Depicts a kind of drawing tool for drawing circles with. The (see) component was later added to suggest watching something being drawn. Based on the original meaning "compass; a kind of drawing tool", now written as . The meaning has shifted over time and now means "rules".

Components

Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a compass or a kind of drawing tool. Modern form looks like unrelated .

Meaning component
jiàn, xiàn, jian see

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkjwiekʷe compass, circle

說文解字

《說文》:“規,有法度也。从夫,从見。”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica