Original meaning: go out and hide
Phonosemantic compound. 彳 represents the meaning and 𢼸 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "go out and hide". The meaning later shifted to "conceal" and "tiny".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | mj+j | məj | small |
說文解字
《說文》：“微，隱行也。从彳，聲。《春秋傳》曰：‘白公其徒微之。’”
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)
Traditional
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | khjieng | [kʰ]eŋ (no palatalization before *-eŋ?) | light (≠ heavy) |
說文解字
《說文》：“輕，輕車也。从車，巠聲。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫Chinese Text Project
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)