高等法院 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

gāoděngfǎyuàn

high court

gāo high

Pictograph of a tall building.

Components

京 Iconic component

jīng capital city

Pictograph of a tall building.

口 Distinguishing component

kǒu, kou mouth

Character Evolution

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 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 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

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Component uses

Sound (6 of 18 verified)

毫搞乔豪稿敲膏镐蒿槁篙犒缟縞暠喬鎬槀

Meaning (3 of 4 verified)

Remnant (2)

Simplified (1)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kaw	Cə.[k]ˤaw	high, tall

說文解字

《說文》：“高，崇也，象臺觀高之形。从冂、口，與倉舍同意。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.448
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

děng rank

Phonosemantic compound. ⺮ represents the meaning and 寺 represents the sound.

Components

⺮ Meaning component

zhú bamboo

⺮ is a component form of 竹. Alludes to an orderly arrangement of writings on bamboo strips.

寺 Sound component

sì, shì temple

Change in sound

等 and 寺 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
等 *tˤəŋʔ
寺 *s-[d]əʔ-s

Character Evolution

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

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

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tongX	tˤəŋʔ	step, grade

說文解字

《說文》：“等，齊簡也。从竹，从寺。寺，官曹之等平也。”

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫 Wiktionary
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

fǎ, fa law

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 去 represents the sound. Originally written as 灋.

Components

氵 Meaning component

shui, shuǐ water

Likely alludes to water always flowing in a given path, or water always being flat and level.

去 Sound component

qù go away

Change in sound

法 and 去 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
法 *[p.k]ap
去 *[kʰ](r)aʔ

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 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 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 Qin 221-206 BC

Seal form — Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Seal form — Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	pjop	[p.k]ap	model, law

說文解字

《說文》：“灋，刑也。平之如水，从水；廌，所以觸不直者，去之，从去。法，今文省。佱，古文。”

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)

yuàn courtyard

Phonosemantic compound. 阝 represents the meaning and 完 represents the sound.

Components

阝 Meaning component

fù hill, place

阝 is a component form of 阜.

完 Sound component

wán complete

Character Evolution

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Qin 221-206 BC

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	hjwenH	ɢʷra[n]-s	wall round a courtyard

說文解字

堅也。从𨸏完聲。

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)