tāo​lüè

strategy

tāo, tào sheath Simplified

Components

Meaning component
wéi, huí tanned leather

leather

Sound component
yǎo to scoop up

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

lüè outline, approximately

Original meaning: demarcate land boundaries

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "demarcate land boundaries". The meaning later shifted to "outline" and "approximately".

Components

Meaning component
tián field
Change in meaning
hints at the original meaning of , "demarcate land boundaries", which is no longer the most common meaning of in modern Mandarin.
Sound component
each
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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-Sagartljak[r]ak draw a boundary; outline

說文解字

《說文》:“略,經略土地也。从田,各聲。”

Sources

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

sheath Traditional

Components

Meaning component
(surround a city), tanned leather

leather

Sound component
yǎo to scoop up

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangl̥ʰuː

說文解字

劒衣也。从韋舀聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica