Original meaning: tattoo the face for a crime committed
Pictograph of a person whose face has been tattooed, now written as 墨. In ancient China criminals were punished by having their faces permanently marked. Later writers reanalyzed the character as a chimney being blackened by fire, so the bottom component was written to look like 炎 (flame).
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | xok | m̥ˤək (dialect *m̥ˤ- > xˤ-) | black |
說文解字
《說文》：“黑，火所熏之色也。从炎上出囦。囦古字。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.760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)
Components
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | |
|---|---|---|
| Zhengzhang | ʔseʔ | |
| Unicode | tziuɛ̌ |
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Zhengzhang Shangfang
Simplified
Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 公 represents the sound. In simplified Chinese this character also means "relax, loosen", but in traditional Chinese this meaning is written as 鬆.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | zjowng | sə.ɢoŋ | pine (n.) |
說文解字
《說文》：“松，木也。从木，公聲。，松或从容。”
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)
Traditional
Components
Historical Pronunciations
| Old Chinese | |
|---|---|
| Zhengzhang | sqʰloːŋs |
| sqʰluːŋ | |
| skʰloŋ | |
| sqʰloŋ |
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Zhengzhang Shangfang
Traditional
Originally was a pictograph of a chicken. Later changed to a phonosemantic compound of 奚 and 隹 (bird).
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | kej | kˤe | fowl, chicken |
說文解字
《說文》：“雞，知時畜也。从隹，奚聲。鷄，籀文雞从鳥。”
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)