自画像
zì​huà​xiàng

self-portrait

自 zì (nose), self

Original meaning: nose

Pictograph of a nose. Original form of 鼻 (nose). In China, when people point to themselves, they typically point to their nose.

Character Evolution

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 Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 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
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Iconic (5)

息鼻牵牽𰄩

Sound (1 of 5 verified)

瘪憩洎邊癟

Meaning (3 of 4 verified)

咱臭戛辠

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdzijHs.[b]i[t]-s self (adv.)
dzijHs.[b]i[t]-s to follow; from

說文解字

《說文》：“自，鼻也。象鼻形。，古文自。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.272
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

画 huà a painting Simplified

Pictograph of a hand holding a writing utensil (聿) and drawing something. The simplified character 画 was adapted from a variant.

Components

畫
聿 Deleted component
yù writing brush
◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a picture being drawn.

Sources

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

像 xiàng resemble

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 象 represents the sound.

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

象
象 Sound component
xiàng elephant

Character Evolution

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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartzjangXs.[d]aŋʔ image; resemble

說文解字

象也。从人从象，象亦聲。讀若養。

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)

畫 huà a painting Traditional

Pictograph of a hand holding a writing utensil (聿) and drawing something.

Components

聿
聿 Iconic component
yù writing brush
周
周 Iconic component
zhōu cycle

Depicts a carved jade object.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 周 than it was in ancient scripts.
乂
乂 Unknown component
yì, ài mow grass

Upper frame? of the drawing, found in the simplified form and possibly in the variant 𬚪

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 乂 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Mid Western Zhou ~900 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
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1)

劃

Meaning (1)

劃

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarthweaHC-gʷˤrek-s drawing (n.)
hweakgʷˤrek draw (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“畫，界也。象田四界，聿所以畫之。，古文畫省。亦古文畫。”

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)