通讯作者 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

tōng, tòng pass through

Phonosemantic compound. 辶 represents the meaning and 甬 represents the sound.

Components

辶 Meaning component

chuò walk

辶 is a component form of 辵.

甬 Sound component

yǒng, tǒng, dòng path

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

嗵

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	thuwng	l̥ˤoŋ	penetrate

說文解字

達也。从辵甬聲。

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)

xùn inquire Simplified

Simplified form of 訊. Depicts a mouth (口) interrogating a captured prisoner of war (卂). 卂 also represents the sound. The 口 (mouth) component was later reanalyzed as 讠 (speech).

Components

讠 Iconic component

yán speech

讠 is a component form of 言. Originally 口 (mouth). Later reanalyzed as 讠 (speech).

卂 Sound Iconic component

xùn to fly rapidly

Depicts a captive prisoner with their hands tied behind their back.

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫中華語文知識庫
Readings & variants: Unicode

zuò make

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 乍 represents the sound.

Components

亻 Meaning component

rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

乍 Sound component

zhà, zuò suddenly

Change in sound

作 and 乍 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
作 *[ts]ˤak-s
乍 *[dz]ˤrak-s

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1)

做

Meaning (1)

做

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tsak	[ts]ˤak	do, work
	tsuH	[ts]ˤak-s	do, work

說文解字

《說文》：“作，起也。从人，从乍。”

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)

zhě one who...

Original meaning: paper mulberry

Pictograph of a tree with paper mulberry leaves, now written as 楮. The distinguishing mark 口 was added later. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

◎ Iconic component

characterless component

Depicts a tree with paper mulberry leaves. Original form of 楮.

口 Distinguishing component

kǒu, kou mouth

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (14 of 28 verified)

着都书著诸署绪猪赌屠堵睹煮奢暑褚赭渚箸锗楮翥諸豬緒書賭啫 show all 28 show fewer

Simplified (1)

书

Iconic (1)

楮

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tsyaeX	tAʔ	(nominalizing particle)

說文解字

《說文》：“者，別事詞也。从白，聲。，古文旅字。”

Sources

Character origin: 林志強《《文源》評注》p.524-525李学勤《字源》p.290
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

xùn inquire Traditional

Depicts a mouth (口) interrogating a captured prisoner of war (卂). 卂 also represents the sound. The 口 (mouth) component was later reanalyzed as 言 (speech).