Original meaning: take away a sacrificial offering
Depicts moving (辶) a sacrificial grain offering (簋) away. Based on the original meaning "take away a sacrificial offering". The meaning later shifted to "withdraw" and "retreat".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | thwojH | n̥ˤ[u]p-s | withdraw (≠ advance) |
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.129-130
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
Original meaning: to command
Originally written as 伇, which depicts a person (亻) being controlled by a weapon (殳). Based on the original meaning "to command". The meaning later shifted to "servant" and "service".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | ywek | ɢʷek | war expedition; service |
說文解字
《說文》：“役，戍邊也。从殳，从彳。，古文役从人。”
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)