顾名思义 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

gù look back, look after Simplified

Simplified form of 顧. Phonosemantic compound. 頁 represents the meaning and 雇 represents the sound.

Components

厄 Simplified component

è adversity, distress

Shorthand for the 雇 component in the traditional character 顧.

页 Meaning component

yè page

Depicts a head.

Sources

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

míng name

Depicts a mouth (口) saying their own name at night (夕) when it is too dark for others to see them.

Components

夕 Iconic component

xī evening

Depicts the moon.

口 Iconic component

kǒu, kou mouth

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

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

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 5 verified)

铭茗酩眳銘

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

铭銘

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	mjieng	C.meŋ	name

說文解字

《說文》：“名，自命也。从口，从夕。夕者，冥也。冥不相見，故以口自名。”

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)

sī, si think

Thought is associated with the head (囟) and heart (心). 囟 is also a phonetic component.

Components

囟 Sound Meaning component

xìn fontanel

Depicts the top of the head. The modern form of the this component looks like 田 (field), but is unrelated.

Change in sound

思 and 囟 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
思 *[s]ə
囟 *[s]ə[r]-s

Change in form

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 囟 than it was in ancient scripts.

心 Meaning component

xīn, xin heart

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 6 verified)

腮鳃锶缌葸鰓

Meaning (1 of 2 verified)

勰慮

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	si	[s]ə	think

說文解字

《說文》：“思，容也。从心，囟聲。”

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)

yì justice Simplified

Adapted from the cursive form of the traditional character 義. Phonosemantic compound. 羊 represents the meaning and 我 represents the sound. In ancient China sheep (羊) were associated with goodness and beauty, which is why 羊 is a component in characters like 美 (beautiful), 善 (benevolent), and 義 (justice).

Components

羊 Meaning Simplified component

yáng sheep

我 Sound Simplified component

wǒ I; me

Change in sound

义 and 我 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
义 *ŋ(r)aj-s
我 *ŋˤajʔ

Component uses

Sound (1 of 4 verified)

议仪蚁舣

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

gù look back, look after Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 頁 represents the meaning and 雇 represents the sound.

Components

雇 Sound component

gù employ

頁 Meaning component

yè (head), page

Depicts a head.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kuH	[k]ʷˤaʔ-s (~ *[k]ʷˤaʔ)	look around

說文解字

《說文》：“顧，還視也。从頁，雇聲。”

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)

yì right conduct Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 羊 represents the meaning and 我 represents the sound. In ancient China sheep (羊) were associated with goodness and beauty, which is why 羊 is a component in characters like 美 (beautiful), 善 (benevolent), and 義 (justice).