财神 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

cái wealth Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 贝 represents the meaning and 才 represents the sound. Simplified form of 財.

Components

贝 Meaning component

bèi sea shell

In ancient China, shells were used as currency.

才 Sound component

cái, cai talent

Sources

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

shén, shen spirit

Phonosemantic compound. 礻 represents the meaning and 申 represents the sound.

Components

礻 Meaning component

shì show

礻 is a component form of 示.

申 Sound component

shēn to extend

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Clerical form — Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	zyin	Cə.li[n]	spirit

說文解字

《說文》：“神，天神，引出萬物者也。从示、申。”

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)

cái wealth Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 貝 represents the meaning and 才 represents the sound.

Components

貝 Meaning component

bèi sea shell

In ancient China, shells were used as currency.

才 Sound component

cái, cai talent

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	dzoj	[dz]ˤə	wealth

說文解字

《說文》：“財，人所寶也。从貝，才聲。”

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)

财 cái wealth Simplified

Components

Sources

神 shén, shen spirit

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

財 cái wealth Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

cái wealth Simplified

shén, shen spirit

cái wealth Traditional