xuǎn​xiù

draft

xuǎn choose Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Simplified form of .

Components

Meaning component
chuò walk

is a component form of .

Sound component
xiān first

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Regular Modern

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical images
Academia Sinica

xiù elegant, excellent

Depicts a grain seedling () pulled out () of the ground. The meaning later expanded to "bloom", "blossom", "elegant", and "excellent".

Components

Iconic component
grain stalk
IconicRemnant component
yǐn to pull

Modern form looks like .

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

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 Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 7 verified)

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsjuwH[s-l]u(ʔ)-s to flower

說文解字

《說文》:“秀,上諱。”

Sources

Character origin
李学勤《字源》p.632漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

xuǎn choose Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
chuò walk

is a component form of .

Sound component
xùn, zhuàn obedient

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsjwenX[s]o[n]ʔ choose; count
sjwenX[s]o[r]ʔ count (v.)
sjwenH[s]o[n]ʔ-s even, orderly

說文解字

遣也。从辵、巽,巽遣之;巽亦聲。一曰選,擇也。

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica