Original meaning: to fall (rain/snow)
Phonosemantic compound. 雨 represents the meaning and 令 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "to fall (of rain/snow)". The meaning later shifted to "scattered", "fraction", and "zero".
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | leng | [r]ˤiŋ | fall (v., of rain) |
說文解字
《說文》：“零，餘雨也。从雨，令聲。”
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)
Pictograph of the sun.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | nyit | C.nik | sun; day |
說文解字
《說文》：“日，實也，太陽之精不虧。从囗、一，象形。日說文古文，古文，象形。”
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)
Originally written as 屚, which depicts rainwater (雨) leaking through a house roof (屋). The 氵 (water) component was added later to clarify the meaning.
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | luwH | [Nə-r]ˤok-s | leak (v.) |
說文解字
《說文》：“漏，以銅受水刻節，晝夜百刻。从水，屚聲。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 李学勤《字源》p.1011, 1025許進雄《新編進階甲骨文字典: 甲骨文發現120周年紀念版》p.204
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | |
|---|---|---|
| Zhengzhang | doːŋ | |
| doːŋs | ||
| Unicode | dhùng | |
| dhung |
說文解字
《說文》：“洞，疾流也。从水，同聲。”
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)