首席执行官 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

shǒu head

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

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

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	syuwX	l̥uʔ	head
	syuwH	l̥uʔ-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)

xí seat, mat

Phonosemantic compound. 巾 represents the meaning and 庶 represents the sound.

Components

庶 Sound component

shù, zhù, zhē numerous

Change in sound

席 and 庶 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
席 *s-m-tAk
庶 *s-tak-s

巾 Meaning component

jīn cloth

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	zjek	s-m-tAk	mat

說文解字

《說文》：“席，籍也。《禮》：‘天子、諸侯席，有黼繡純飾。’从巾，庶省。，古文席，从石省。”

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)

zhí hold in hand Simplified

Original meaning: seize

Simplified form of 執. Pictograph of a person with hands (丮) bound by shackles (㚔). Based on the original meaning "seize". The meaning later shifted to "wield power", "carry out", and "hold".

Components

扌 Simplified component

shou, shǒu hand

Shorthand for the 㚔 component in the traditional character 執.

丮 Iconic component

jǐ catch

Depicts a person with two hands outstretched.

Component uses

Sound (1 of 8 verified)

势垫挚亵蛰鸷贽絷

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

挚絷

Simplified (1)

热

Sources

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

xíng, háng walk

Depicts a street intersection.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Meaning (7 of 12 verified)

卫街衙衢術衛鸻衖衝衕鴴衚

Sound (1 of 9 verified)

衡衔珩桁荇銜绗筕絎

Deleted (2)

术卫

Remnant (1)

彳

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	hang	[g]ˤaŋ	rank, row
	haeng	Cə.[g]ˤraŋ	walk (v.)
	haengH	[g]ˤraŋ-s	action

說文解字

《說文》：“行，人之步趨也。从彳，从亍。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.138
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

guān official

Depicts an official person (師) working in a governmental institution (宀).

Components

宀 Meaning component

mián roof

師 Meaning Remnant component

shī teacher

𠂤 is used here as an abbreviation of 師.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (3 of 9 verified)

管馆棺倌绾涫菅逭館

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kwan	kʷˤa[n]	official (n.)

說文解字

《說文》：“官，吏事君也。从宀，从。猶眾也，此與師同意。”

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)

zhí hold in hand Traditional

Original meaning: seize

Pictograph of a person with hands (丮) bound by shackles (㚔). Based on the original meaning "seize". The meaning later shifted to "wield power", "carry out", and "hold".