遗妻
yí​qī

widow

遗 yí lose, leave behind Simplified

Simplified form of 遺. Phonosemantic compound. 辶 represents the meaning and 贵 represents the sound.

Components

辶
辶 Meaning component
chuò walk

辶 is a component form of 辵.

贵
贵 Sound component
guì expensive
Change in sound

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

妻 qī wife

Pictograph of a hand grabbing a woman's hair to take her as a wife. In ancient China, women of marriageable age wore hairpins (compare with 每).

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a woman's hair.

又
又 Iconic component
yòu hand

Depicts a hand grabbing a woman's hair.

女
女 Iconic component
nǚ, nü woman

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
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

Component uses

Sound (0 of 5 verified)

凄萋棲悽淒

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttshej[tsʰ]ˤəj consort, wife
tshejH[tsʰ]ˤəj-s give as wife

說文解字

《說文》：“妻，婦與夫齊者也。从女，从屮，从又。又，持事，妻職也。，古文妻从、女。，古文貴字。”

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)

遺 yí lose, leave behind Traditional

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

Components

辶
辶 Meaning component
chuò walk

辶 is a component form of 辵.

貴
貴 Sound component
guì expensive
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartywijH[ɢ](r)uj-s to present
ywij[ɢ](r)uj leave; reject

說文解字

《說文》：“遺，亡也。从辵，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)