解约
jiě​yuē

terminate

解 jiě divide

Depicts separating (解) the horns (角) from a cow (牛) using a knife (刀).

Components

角
角 Iconic component
jiǎo, jué horn
刀
刀 Iconic component
dāo knife
牛
牛 Iconic component
niú cow

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 6 verified)

懈蟹邂獬廨澥

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkeaXkˤreʔ cut up; unloose
heaXN-kˤreʔ understand
heaXN-kˤreʔ #NAME?

說文解字

《說文》：“解，判也。从刀判牛角。一曰解廌，獸也。”

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)

约 yuē agreement Simplified

Original meaning: bind

Simplified form of 約. Phonosemantic compound. 纟 represents the meaning and 勺 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "bind". The meaning later shifted to "agreement", "restrain", "keep under control", "appointment", and "approximately".

Components

纟
纟 Meaning component
mì silk

纟 is a component form of 糸.

勺
勺 Sound component
sháo, shuò, zhuó spoon
Change in sound

Component uses

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

药哟

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

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

約 yuē agreement Traditional

Original meaning: bind

Phonosemantic compound. 糹 represents the meaning and 勺 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "bind". The meaning later shifted to "agreement", "restrain", "keep under control", "appointment", and "approximately".

Components

糹
糹 Meaning component
mì silk

糹 is a component form of 糸.

勺
勺 Sound component
sháo, shuò, zhuó spoon
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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 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 (1 of 2 verified)

葯喲

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'jiewH[q]ewk-s bond, agreement (n.)
'jak[q](r)ewk bind (v.), make an agreement

說文解字

《說文》：“約，纏束也。从糸，勺聲。”

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)