里约热内卢 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

lǐ, li village

A village (里) is an area of land (土) where people have fields (田). In simplified Chinese 里 is also used to mean "inside", while in traditional Chinese this meaning is written with a separate character 裡.

Components

田 Meaning component

tián field

土 Meaning component

tǔ earth

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

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

Clerical form — Clerical Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	liX	(mə.)rəʔ	li (measure of distance); village

說文解字

《說文》：“里，居也。从田，从土。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.913
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

yuē agreement Simplified

Original meaning: bind

Simplified form of 約. Phonosemantic compound. 纟 represents the meaning and 勺 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "bind". The meaning later shifted to "agreement", "restrain", "keep under control", "appointment", and "approximately".

Components

纟 Meaning component

mì silk

纟 is a component form of 糸.

勺 Sound component

sháo, shuò, zhuó spoon

Change in sound

约 and 勺 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
约 *[q](r)ewk
勺 *m-tewk

Component uses

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

药哟

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

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

rè hot Simplified

Simplified form of 熱. Phonosemantic compound. 灬 represents the meaning and 埶 represents the sound.

Components

灬 Meaning component

biāo, huǒ fire

灬 is a component form of 火.

执 Simplified component

zhí hold in hand

Shorthand for the 埶 component in the traditional character 熱.

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

nèi inside Simplified

Depicts a person (人) inside a building (冂).

Components

人 Iconic component

rén, ren person

冂 Iconic component

jiōng, jiǒng large room

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Sound (5 of 13 verified)

纳呐钠讷芮衲蚋肭納枘鈉㕯訥

說文解字

《說文》：“內，入也。从口，自外而入也。”

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

lú, lǘ, léi rice vessel Simplified

Original meaning: stove

Simplified form of 盧. Originally a pictograph of a stove, based on the original meaning "stove", now written as 爐. The 虍 and 皿 components were added later. In modern Mandarin this character is usually only used for its sound in foreign loan words.

Components

虍 Sound Simplified component

hū tiger

Change in sound

卢 and 虍 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in older Chinese.

◎ Iconic Simplified component

characterless component

Depicts a stove.

皿 Deleted component

mǐn, mǐng dish

The traditional component 皿 was removed for simplification.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 9 verified)

颅鲈鸬胪泸舻轳栌垆

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

垆

Sources

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

yuē agreement Traditional

Original meaning: bind

Phonosemantic compound. 糹 represents the meaning and 勺 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "bind". The meaning later shifted to "agreement", "restrain", "keep under control", "appointment", and "approximately".

Components

糹 Meaning component

mì silk

糹 is a component form of 糸.

勺 Sound component

sháo, shuò, zhuó spoon

Change in sound

約 and 勺 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
約 *[q](r)ewk
勺 *m-tewk

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

葯喲

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	'jiewH	[q]ewk-s	bond, agreement (n.)
	'jak	[q](r)ewk	bind (v.), make an agreement

說文解字

《說文》：“約，纏束也。从糸，勺聲。”

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)

rè hot Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 灬 represents the meaning and 埶 represents the sound.

Components

灬 Meaning component

biāo, huǒ fire

灬 is a component form of 火.

埶 Sound component

yì, shì art, skill

Change in sound

熱 and 埶 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Middle Chinese.
熱 nyet
埶 syejH

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Sound (1)

爇

Meaning (1)

爇

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	nyet	C.nat (or *C.ŋet?)	hot

說文解字

《說文》：“熱，溫也。从火，埶聲。”

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)

nèi inside Traditional

Depicts an entrance (入) to go inside a building (冂).

Components

入 Iconic component

rù enter

冂 Iconic component

jiōng, jiǒng large room

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

吶

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	nop	nˤ[u]p	bring or send in
	nwojH	nˤ[u]p-s	inside

說文解字

《說文》：“內，入也。从口，自外而入也。”

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)

rice vessel Traditional

Original meaning: stove

Originally a pictograph of a stove, based on the original meaning "stove", now written as 爐. The 虍 and 皿 components were added later. In modern Mandarin this character is usually only used for its sound in foreign loan words.

Components

虍 Sound component

hū tiger

Change in sound

盧 and 虍 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
盧 b·raː
虍 *qʰˤra (dialect *qˤʰr- >r̥ˤ- > x-)

◎ Iconic component

characterless component

Depicts a stove. Unrelated to 田.

皿 Meaning component

mǐn, mǐng dish

Change in meaning

皿 hints at the original meaning of 盧, "stove", which is no longer the most common meaning of 盧 in modern Mandarin.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Sound (2 of 12 verified)

顱膚蘆驢臚鑪鸕瀘廬鱸爐轤

Remnant (1)

膚

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese
Zhengzhang		b·raː
Unicode	lo

說文解字

《說文》：“盧，飲器也。从皿，聲。，籀文盧。”

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

里 lǐ, li village

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (5 of 17 verified)

Iconic (0 of 1 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

约 yuē agreement Simplified

Components

Component uses

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

热 rè hot Simplified

Components

Sources

内 nèi inside Simplified

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (5 of 13 verified)

說文解字

Sources

卢 lú, lǘ, léi rice vessel Simplified

Components

Component uses

Sound (0 of 9 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Sources

約 yuē agreement Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

熱 rè hot Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (1)

Meaning (1)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

內 nèi inside Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

盧 rice vessel Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (2 of 12 verified)

Remnant (1)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

lǐ, li village

yuē agreement Simplified

rè hot Simplified

nèi inside Simplified

lú, lǘ, léi rice vessel Simplified

yuē agreement Traditional

rè hot Traditional

nèi inside Traditional

rice vessel Traditional