tiē​dàn

supporting actress

tiē paste to Simplified

Original meaning: to compensate, subsidize

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Simplified form of .

Components

Meaning component
bèi sea shell

In ancient China shells were used as currency.

Change in meaning
hints at the original meaning of , "to compensate, subsidize", which is no longer the most common meaning of in modern Mandarin.
Sound component
zhàn divine
Change in sound

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

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

dàn dawn

Depicts the sun () rising above the horizon () at dawn. In the oracle bone script the bottom component was the phonetic , which was later reanalyzed as the earth or a horizon.

Components

Iconic component
sun
Iconic component
one

Depicts the horizon.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (4 of 12 verified)

Meaning (3 of 4 verified)

Unknown (2 of 3 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttanHtˤan-s dawn

說文解字

《說文》:“旦,明也。从日見一上。一,地也。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.539
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

tiē to paste Traditional

Original meaning: to compensate, subsidize

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
bèi sea shell

In ancient China shells were used as currency.

Change in meaning
hints at the original meaning of , "to compensate, subsidize", which is no longer the most common meaning of in modern Mandarin.
Sound component
zhàn divine
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartthep[tʰ]ˤ[e]p paste (v.) [not in GSR]

說文解字

《說文新附》:“貼,以物為質也。从貝,占聲。”

Sources

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