Original meaning: chisel
Pictograph of a chisel-like tool. The meaning later shifted to "hard" and "laborious".
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | sin | [s]i[n] | pungent; painful |
| sin | si[n] | 8th heavenly stem |
說文解字
《說文》：“辛，秋時萬物成而孰。金剛味辛，辛痛即泣出。从一，从。，辠也。辛承庚，象人股。”
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)
Simplified
Simplified form of 貝. Pictograph of a cowrie shell. In ancient China such shells were used as currency.
Original meaning: bull
Phonosemantic compound. 牛 represents the meaning and 寺 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "bull". The meaning later shifted to "prominent" and "special".
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | dok | [d]ˤək | bull |
說文解字
《說文》：“特，朴特，牛父也。从牛，寺聲。”
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)
Traditional
Pictograph of a cowrie shell. In ancient China such shells were used as currency.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | pajH | pˤa[t]-s | cowry shell |
說文解字
《說文》：“貝，海介蟲也。居陸名猋，在水名蜬。象形。古者貨貝而寶龜，周而有泉，至秦廢貝行錢。”
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)