Original meaning: sepals
Pictograph of sepals of a flower. The modern meaning "no" is a phonetic loan.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | pjuw | pə | not |
| pjuw | pə | 不律 writing brush (pron. in Wú 吳 ap. Shuōwén; E. Hàn) |
說文解字
《說文》：“不，鳥飛上翔不下來也。从一，一猶天也。象形。”
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)
Traditional
Original meaning: [name of river]
Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 齊 represents the sound.
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | tsejX | [ts]ˤ[i]jʔ | numerous |
| tsejX | [ts]ˤəjʔ | stately | |
| tsejX | [ts]ˤəjʔ | [river name] | |
| tsejH | [ts]ˤ[i]j(ʔ)-s | cross a stream; rescue | |
| tsejH | [ts]ˤ[i]j(ʔ)-s | stop |
說文解字
《說文》：“濟，水。出常山房子贊皇山，東入泜。从水，齊聲。”
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)