sì​xiǎng

continue

to inherit, to connect

Depicts inheriting knowledge and wisdom down to descendents through bamboo slips (). represents the sound.

Components

Iconic component
kǒu, kou mouth

This component possibly alludes to knowledge and wisdom that comes from the mouth.

Iconic component
book
Sound component
take charge of

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartziHsə.lə-s succeed, inherit

說文解字

《說文》:“嗣,諸侯嗣國也。从,从口,司聲,孠,古文嗣从子。”

Sources

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

xiǎng make sound Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Simplified form of .

Components

Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth
Sound component
xiàng toward

Sources

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

xiǎng make sound Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Sound component
xiāng hometown
Meaning component
yīn sound

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartxjangXqʰaŋʔ echo

說文解字

聲也。从音鄉聲。

Sources

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