吉卜赛人
Jí​bǔ​sài​rén

Gypsy

吉 jí lucky

Original meaning: solid, difficult to break

Depicts a hook-shaped weapon made out of copper. Based on the original meaning "solid, difficult to break". The meaning later shifted to "good" and "lucky".

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a hook-shaped weapon made out of copper.

口
口 Distinguishing component
kǒu, kou mouth

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
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 17 verified)

结洁桔诘颉秸髻黠拮結咭佶鲒詰喆頡劼

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

喆

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkjitC.qi[t] (*C.q- > *k-, escaping palatalization)auspicious

說文解字

《說文》：“吉，善也。从士、口。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.98-99漢語多功能字庫林志強《《文源》評注》p.93-94
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

卜 bo fortune telling

Pictograph of a crack on a bone. In ancient China such cracks were used for fortune-telling.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 10 verified)

补扑仆赴朴讣卟钋攴訃

Iconic (4)

外占畏斦

Simplified (2)

处盐

Meaning (1 of 2 verified)

卦卟

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

圤

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpuwkpˤok divine (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“卜，灼剥龜也。象灸龜之形。一曰象龜兆之從橫也。，古文卜。”

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)

赛 sài compete Simplified

Original meaning: thank offering

Simplified form of 賽. Phonosemantic compound. 貝 represents the meaning and 𡨄 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "thank offering". The meaning later shifted to "compete".

Components

𡨄
𡨄 Sound component
sāi, xià to stop up

𡨄 is a component form of 塞.

贝
贝 Meaning component
bèi sea shell

Shells were used as currency in ancient China.

Sources

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

人 rén, ren person

Pictograph of the side view of a standing person.

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
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 Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Iconic (65)

以年从此内先及克死万企众坐负竟介监临亮鬼兄闪寒盾夹卧欠吊兑囚蜀虐羌敖戍奂艮臨臥負閃監弔疒兌兒冘皃夌㐱夾夃奐臽卬翏丏𠩺𡵂𦰋飤幾秊𥁕厃

Meaning (4 of 5 verified)

队亮允佘仝

Sound (2 of 3 verified)

认氽䧹

Simplified (1)

队

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

隳

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartnyinni[ŋ] (other) person

說文解字

《說文》：“人，天地之性最貴者也。此籀文，象臂脛之形。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.630
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

賽 sài compete Traditional

Original meaning: thank offering

Phonosemantic compound. 貝 represents the meaning and 𡨄 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "thank offering". The meaning later shifted to "compete".

Components

𡨄
𡨄 Sound component
sāi, xià to stop up

𡨄 is a component form of 塞.

貝
貝 Meaning component
bèi sea shell

Shells were used as currency in ancient China.

Character Evolution

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 Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangslɯːɡs

說文解字

《說文新附》：“賽，報也。从貝，塞省聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)