財
cái

wealth

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approved by Peter Olson · Nov 17, 2021, 03:20 AM · Reviewed by Peter Olson on Nov 17, 2021, 03:20 AM

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Changed fields: isVerified, components, customSources

Phonosemantic compound. 貝 represents the meaning and 才 represents the sound.

Components

貝
貝 Meaning component

In ancient China, shells were used as currency.

才
才 Sound component

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdzoj[dz]ˤə wealth

說文解字

《說文》：“財，人所寶也。从貝，才聲。”

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)