鹊巢鸠占
què​cháo​jiū​zhàn

reap without sowing

鹊 que magpie Simplified

Simplified form of 鵲. Phonosemantic compound. 鳥 represents the meaning and 昔 represents the sound. Originally written as 舄.

Components

鸟
鸟 Meaning component
niǎo bird
昔
昔 Sound component
xī, cuò in the past, ancient times

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

巢 cháo nest

Pictograph of a nest (甾) in a tree (木).

Components

甾
甾 Iconic component
zāi, zī container

Depicts a bird's nest.

木
木 Iconic component
mù tree

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

剿缫勦

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdzraew[dz]ˤraw nest

說文解字

《說文》：“巢，鳥在木上曰巢，在穴曰窠。从木，象形。”

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)

鸠 jiū, qiú, zhì pigeon Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 鸟 represents the meaning and 九 represents the sound. Simplified form of 鳩.

Components

鸟
鸟 Meaning component
niǎo bird
九
九 Sound component
jiǔ nine

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

占 zhàn divine

In ancient China fortune-tellers analyzed cracks (卜) and holes (口) in shells and bones for the purpose of divination.

Components

卜
卜 Iconic component
bo fortune telling

Depicts a crack.

口
口 Iconic component
kǒu, kou mouth

Depicts a hole.


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
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
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 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (9 of 25 verified)

点战站店贴钻粘沾帖毡拈黏玷鲇砧苫點觇貼坫飐佔扂覘颭

Meaning (0 of 5 verified)

拈乩觇呫覘

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsyemtem prognosticate

說文解字

《說文》：“占，視兆問也。从卜，从口。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.249-250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)

鵲 que magpie Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 鳥 represents the meaning and 昔 represents the sound.

Components

鳥
鳥 Meaning component
niǎo bird
昔
昔 Sound component
xī, cuò in the past, ancient times

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttshjak[tsʰ]ak magpie

Sources

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

鳩 pigeon Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 鳥 represents the meaning and 九 represents the sound.

Components

鳥
鳥 Meaning component
niǎo bird
九
九 Sound component
jiǔ nine

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkjuw[k](r)u(a kind of bird)
Zhengzhangku
Unicodegiou

說文解字

鹘鵃也。从鳥九聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)