赖索托
Lài​suǒ​tuō

Lesotho

赖 lài depend on Simplified

Original meaning: profit

Phonosemantic compound. 贝 represents the meaning and 剌 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "profit". The meaning later shifted to "rely on" and "blame". Simplified form of 賴.

Components

剌
剌 Sound component
lá, là cut, slash
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 剌 than it was in ancient scripts.
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 赖, "profit", which is no longer the most common meaning of 赖 in modern Mandarin.

Component uses

Sound (1 of 5 verified)

懒籁濑癞獭

Sources

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

索 suǒ, suo large rope

Pictograph of two hands (廾) twisting together a long rope (糸). The meaning later expanded to "search" and "demand".

Components

廾
廾 Iconic component
gǒng two hands

Depicts two hands twisting a rope.

糸
糸 Iconic component
mì, sī silk

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 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 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

嗦

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsak[s]ˤak twist a rope
sak[s]ˤak search (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“索，艸有莖葉可作繩索。从糸。杜林說：，亦朱字。”

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)

托 tuō to hold up, support

Phonosemantic compound. 扌 represents the meaning and 乇 represents the sound.

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

乇
乇 Sound component
tuō, zhé to depend on

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangl̥ʰaːɡ

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

賴 lài depend on Traditional

Original meaning: profit

Phonosemantic compound. 貝 represents the meaning and 剌 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "profit". The meaning later shifted to "rely on" and "blame".

Components

剌
剌 Sound component
lá, là cut, slash
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 剌 than it was in ancient scripts.
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 賴, "profit", which is no longer the most common meaning of 賴 in modern Mandarin.

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 4 verified)

懶瀨癩籟

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartlajHrˤa[t]-s depend on

說文解字

《說文》：“賴，贏也。从貝，剌聲。”

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)