Simplified
Original meaning: to meet
Simplified form of 這, which originally meant "to meet" and had a pronunciation corresponding to modern Mandarin yàn. 這 later acquired an unrelated pronunciation and meaning through confusion with another character.
Components
Sources
- Character origin
- Wiktionary
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
Simplified
Pictograph of a small table. In simplified Chinese 几 is also used to mean "how much", while in traditional Chinese this meaning is written with a separate character 幾.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | kijX | C.kr[ə]jʔ | stool |
說文解字
《說文》：“几，踞几也。象形。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.929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)
Original meaning: head
Depicts a person (大) with an emphasized head. Based on the original meaning "head". The meaning later shifted to "top", "high", and "sky".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | then | l̥ˤi[n] | heaven |
| xen | l̥ˤi[n] (W dialect: l̥ˤ- > Hàn-time *xˤ- > MC x-) | heaven |
說文解字
《說文》：“天，顛也。至高无上，从一、大。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.40-41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
Original meaning: to meet
Phonosemantic compound. 辶 represents the meaning and 言 represents the sound. The character originally meant "to meet" and had a pronunciation corresponding to modern Mandarin yàn. 這 later acquired an unrelated pronunciation and meaning through confusion with 遮.
Components
Historical Pronunciations
| Old Chinese | |
|---|---|
| Zhengzhang | ŋrans |
Sources
- Character origin
- Wiktionary
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Zhengzhang Shangfang
Traditional
Original meaning: danger
Depicts a weapon (戈) cutting ropes (𢆶) tied around a person (人). Based on the original meaning "danger". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | kj+j | kəj | small; almost |
| kj+jX | kəjʔ | few; how many |
說文解字
《說文》：“幾，微也，殆也。从，从戍。戍，兵守也。而兵守者危也。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.318-319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)