首发
shǒu​fā

launch

首 shǒu head

Pictograph of a head (hair above a face with an eye).

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
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 Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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

Component uses

Iconic (4)

县页頁縣

Meaning (0 of 3 verified)

馗艏馘

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

道艏

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsyuwXl̥uʔ head
syuwHl̥uʔ-s turn the head towards

說文解字

《說文》：“首，同，古文也。巛象髮，謂之鬊，鬊即巛也。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.700
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

发 fā, fa, fà issue Simplified

Simplified form of both 發 (send out) and 髮 (hair). Visually similar to 犮, the bottom component of 髮.

Component uses

Sound (2 of 4 verified)

废泼酦袯

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

拨

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

發 fā, fa, fà send out Traditional

Depicts a hand pulling back an arrow (殳) in a bow (弓). 癶 represents the sound.

Components

癶
癶 Sound component
bō legs
Change in sound
弓
弓 Iconic component
gōng bow

Depicts a bow.

殳
殳 Iconic component
shū weapon or tool

Depicts a hand pulling an arrow.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 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
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 3 verified)

醱廢潑

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

撥

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartpjotCə.pat fly forth, send forth

說文解字

《說文》：“發，發也。从弓，癹聲。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.880-881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)