Pictograph of a tongue (舌) sticking out of a mouth. In old scripts 言 was written the same as 舌 but with an extra line.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | ngjon | ŋa[n] | (a particle) |
| ngjon | ŋa[n] | I, we | |
| ngjon | ŋa[n] | speak; speech | |
| ngjon | ŋa[r] | tall |
說文解字
《說文》：“言，直言曰言，論難曰語。从口，聲。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.160
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Simplified
Simplified form of 辭. Alludes to a governance (𤔔) dispute related to criminal law (辛). Based on the original meaning "litigation". The meaning later shifted to "words".
Components
Character Evolution
Sources
- Character origin
- 李学勤《字源》p.1277
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
Traditional
Original meaning: litigation
Alludes to a governance (𤔔) dispute related to criminal law (辛). Based on the original meaning "litigation". The meaning later shifted to "words".
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | zi | sə.lə | words |
說文解字
《說文》：“辭，訟也。从，猶理辜也。，理也。，籀文辭从司。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 李学勤《字源》p.1277
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)