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)
Simplified
Phonosemantic compound. 頁 represents the meaning and 豆 represents the sound. The simplified character 头 was adapted from the cursive form of the traditional character 頭.
Components
豆 SoundSimplified component
頁 IconicSimplified component
Depicts a head on top of a person.
Simplified
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Old Chinese | |
|---|---|
| Zhengzhang | zraːɡs |
| sʰaːɡs |
說文解字
蠅䏣也。《周禮》：“蜡氏掌除骴。”从虫昔聲。
Sources
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Zhengzhang Shangfang
- 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
Pictograph of a sparrow.
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | tsjak | [ts]ewk | sparrow |
說文解字
《說文》：“雀，依人小鳥也。从小、隹。讀與爵同。”
Sources
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Traditional
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | duw | [m-t]ˤo | head |
說文解字
《說文》：“頭，首也。从頁，豆聲。”
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)
Traditional
Components
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | lap | k.rˤap (no pre-Qín exx.) | wax |
| Zhengzhang | raːb | ||
| Unicode | lɑp |
Sources
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang