Simplified
Original meaning: to hold in arms
Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 壬 represents the sound.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | nyimH | n[ə]m-s | burden; charge (n.) |
說文解字
《說文》：“任，符也。从人，壬聲。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫The Outlier Linguistics Dictionary of Chinese Characters
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Original meaning: break
Depicts cutting down a tree (未) with a knife (刂). Based on the original meaning "break". The meaning later shifted to "control".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | tsyejH | tet-s | cut out, prepare |
說文解字
《說文》：“制，裁也。从刀，从未。未，物成，有滋味，可裁斷。一曰止也。，古文制如此。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.357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
Original meaning: taxation
Phonosemantic compound. 貝 represents the meaning and 朿 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "taxation". The meaning later shifted to "responsibility".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | tsreak | s-tˤrek | demand payment |
| tsreak | s-tˤrek | blame | |
| tsreaH | s-tˤrek-s | debt |
說文解字
《說文》：“責，求也。从貝，朿聲。”
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)