yī​tàn​jiū​jìng

investigate

one

A single horizontal stroke, representing the number one.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 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
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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Wu) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (2 of 7 verified)

Unknown (2)

Distinguishing (1)

Simplified (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'jitʔi[t] one

說文解字

《說文》:“一,惟初太始,道立於一,造分天地,化成萬物。弌,古文一。”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

tàn, tan explore, find

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

is a component form of .

Sound component
shēn deep
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartthoml̥ˤ[ə]m put the hand into and test

說文解字

《說文》:“,遠取之也。从手,聲。”

Sources

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

jiū, jiu examine, scrutinize

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
xué, jué cave
Sound component
jiǔ nine

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
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-SagartkjuwH[k](r)u(ʔ)-s scrutinize; go to the end

說文解字

《說文》:“究,窮也。从穴,九聲。”

Sources

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

jìng actually

Original meaning: tattoo criminals on the face

Depicts a tattoo tool () marking a person's () head as punishment for a crime. Based on the original meaning "tattoo criminals on the face", now written as . The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

Iconic component
xīn laborious

Depicts a chisel-like tool. The modern form looks like but is unrelated.

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

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 4 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkjaengH[k]raŋʔ-s end, in the end

說文解字

《說文》:“竟,樂曲盡為竟。从音,从人。”

Sources

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