三个臭皮匠，顶个诸葛亮 Origin

sān three

Three horizontal strokes, representing the number three.

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (2 of 4 verified)

参仨闫參

Meaning (2 of 4 verified)

参叁仨參

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	sam	s.rum (s.r- > s-; infl. by 四 s-?)	three
	samH	s.r[u]m-s (s.r- > s-, infl. by 四 *s-?)	three times

說文解字

《說文》：“三，天地人之道也。从三數。弎，古文三从弋。”

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.51
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

gè, ge, gě [measure word] Simplified

Pictograph of one stalk of bamboo. Same as one half of the character for bamboo (竹).

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Iconic (1)

支

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kaH	kˤa[r]-s	tally, piece, item

Sources

Character origin: Wiktionary
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica

chòu smell

Components

自 Meaning component

zì (nose), self

犬 Meaning component

quǎn dog

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

嗅溴糗

Meaning (0 of 3 verified)

嗅溴糗

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tsyhuwH	t-qʰu(ʔ)-s	odor, to stink (intransitive)?
	xjuwH	qʰu(ʔ)-s	odor, to stink (intransitive)?

說文解字

《說文》：“臭，禽走臭而知其迹者，犬也。从犬，从自。”

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)

pí skin

Pictograph of a hand (又) peeling off the skin from an animal.

Components

◎ Iconic component

characterless component

Depicts an animal with its skin being peeled off.

又 Iconic component

yòu hand

Depicts a hand.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (5 of 15 verified)

被破波彼坡颇玻疲披簸跛陂铍帔頗

Meaning (0 of 7 verified)

皱披皴皲皰皺皻

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	bje	m-[p](r)aj	skin

說文解字

《說文》：“皮，剝取獸革者謂之皮。从又，為省聲。，古文皮。，籀文皮。”

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)

jiang, jiàng craftsman

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	dzjangH	s.baŋ-s	craftsman
Zhengzhang		sbaŋs
Unicode	dzhiɑ̀ng

說文解字

木工也。从匚从斤。斤，所以作器也。

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

dǐng top Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 页 represents the meaning and 丁 represents the sound. Simplified form of 頂.

Components

丁 Sound component

dīng cubes

页 Meaning component

yè page

Depicts a head.

Sources

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

zhū several Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 讠 represents the meaning and 者 represents the sound. Simplified form of 諸.

Components

讠 Meaning component

yán speech

讠 is a component form of 言.

者 Sound component

zhě one who...

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

储槠

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

gé, gě edible bean

Phonosemantic compound. 艹 represents the meaning and 曷 represents the sound.

Components

艹 Meaning component

cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

曷 Sound component

hé, è, hè why? what? where?

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

噶

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kat	[k]ˤat	Dolichos; kudzu
Zhengzhang		kaːd
Unicode	gɑt

說文解字

絺綌艸也。从艸曷聲。

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

liàng, liang bright

Phonosemantic compound. 人 represents the meaning and 京 represents the sound. Depicts a person (人) in a high place (京).

Components

人 Meaning Iconic component

rén, ren person

Change in form

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

京 Sound Iconic component

jīng capital city

Change in sound

亮 and 京 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
亮 *[r]aŋ-s
京 *[k]raŋ

Change in form

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

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

喨

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	ljangH	[r]aŋ-s	brightness

Sources

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

gè, ge, gě [measure word] Traditional

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

Components

亻 Meaning component

rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

固 Sound component

gù to become solid

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kaH	kˤa[r]-s	piece, item

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart

dǐng top Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 頁 represents the meaning and 丁 represents the sound.

Components

丁 Sound component

dīng cubes

頁 Meaning component

yè (head), page

Depicts a head.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tengX	tˤeŋʔ	top of the head

說文解字

《說文》：“頂，顛也。从頁，丁聲。，或从作。，籀文从鼎。”

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)

zhū several Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 言 represents the meaning and 者 represents the sound.

Components

言 Meaning component

yán speech

者 Sound component

zhě one who...

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

儲

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tsyo	ta	many
Zhengzhang		tjaː
		tja
Unicode	jiu

說文解字

辯也。从言者聲。

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

三 sān three

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (2 of 4 verified)

Meaning (2 of 4 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

个 gè, ge, gě [measure word] Simplified

Character Evolution

Component uses

Iconic (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

臭 chòu smell

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

Meaning (0 of 3 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

皮 pí skin

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (5 of 15 verified)

Meaning (0 of 7 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

匠 jiang, jiàng craftsman

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

顶 dǐng top Simplified

Components

Sources

诸 zhū several Simplified

Components

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

Sources

葛 gé, gě edible bean

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

亮 liàng, liang bright

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

個 gè, ge, gě [measure word] Traditional

Components

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

頂 dǐng top Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

諸 zhū several Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

sān three

gè, ge, gě [measure word] Simplified

chòu smell

pí skin

jiang, jiàng craftsman

dǐng top Simplified

zhū several Simplified

gé, gě edible bean

liàng, liang bright

gè, ge, gě [measure word] Traditional

dǐng top Traditional

zhū several Traditional