贴题
tiē​tí

relevant

贴 tiē paste to Simplified

Original meaning: to compensate, subsidize

Phonosemantic compound. 贝 represents the meaning and 占 represents the sound. Simplified form of 貼.

Components

贝
贝 Meaning component
bèi sea shell

In ancient China shells were used as currency.

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

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

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

题 tí topic Simplified

Original meaning: forehead

Simplified form of 題. Phonosemantic compound. 页 represents the meaning and 是 represents the sound. The character is based on the original meaning "forehead". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

页
页 Meaning component
yè page

Depicts a head.

是
是 Sound component
shì, shi is
Change in sound

Sources

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

貼 tiē to paste Traditional

Original meaning: to compensate, subsidize

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

Components

貝
貝 Meaning component
bèi sea shell

In ancient China shells were used as currency.

Change in meaning
貝 hints at the original meaning of 貼, "to compensate, subsidize", which is no longer the most common meaning of 貼 in modern Mandarin.
占
占 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
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

題 tí topic Traditional

Original meaning: forehead

Phonosemantic compound. 頁 represents the meaning and 是 represents the sound. The character is based on the original meaning "forehead". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

頁
頁 Meaning component
yè (head), page

Depicts a head.

是
是 Sound component
shì, shi is
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangdeː
deːs
Unicodedhei

說文解字

《說文》：“題，頟也。从頁，是聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)