不见兔子不撒鹰
bù​jiàn​tù​zi​bù​sā​yīng

wait for certainty

不 bù, bu no

Original meaning: sepals

Pictograph of sepals of a flower. The modern meaning "no" is a phonetic loan.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
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 Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 5 verified)

否杯钚罘盃

Simplified (4)

还环怀坏

Meaning (1 of 4 verified)

否歪甭孬

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpjuwpə not
pjuwpə 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)

见 jiàn, xiàn, jian see Simplified

Simplified form of 見. Pictograph of a person (卩) using their eye (目) to see (見).

Components

目
目 IconicSimplified component
mù eye

Depicts an eye.

卩
卩 Iconic component
jié person kneeling

Depicts a person.

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

Component uses

Meaning (5 of 17 verified)

现规觉观视览觅觑觐觎觊靓岘觇觋觏觌

Sound (3 of 8 verified)

现舰砚苋笕岘蚬枧

Sources

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

兔 tù rabbit

Pictograph of a rabbit.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (1 of 2 verified)

逸毚

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

菟堍

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

馋

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartthuHl̥ˤa-s rabbit, hare

說文解字

《說文》：“兔，獸名。象踞，後其尾形，兔頭與頭同。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.748-749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)

子 zi, zǐ child

Pictograph of a small child with its two arms waving.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
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 Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Spring and Autumn ~600 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (10 of 21 verified)

好存字李孩孙季孤仔孟孽籽孺孢孪孳孥囝孫孨孿

Iconic (15)

了学教保包孔乳孕孝孚孛孑孓斿學

Sound (2 of 5 verified)

字仔孜籽耔

Remnant (3)

了孑孓

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttsiX[ts]əʔ 1st earthly branch
tsiXtsəʔ child; gentleman, master

說文解字

《說文》：“子，十一月陽气動，萬物滋，人以為偁。象形。，古文子，从巛，象髮也。，籀文子，囟有髮，臂、脛在几上也。”

Sources

Character origin
徐中舒《甲骨文字典》p.1571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)

撒 sā, sǎ release, scatter

Phonosemantic compound. 扌 represents the meaning and 散 represents the sound.

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

散
散 SoundMeaning component
sàn, sǎn scatter

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangsaːd
Unicodesɑt

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

鹰 yīng eagle Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 鸟 represents the meaning and 䧹 represents the sound. Simplified form of 鷹.

Components

鸟
鸟 Meaning component
niǎo bird
䧹
䧹 SoundMeaning component
yīng eagle

Sources

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

見 jiàn, xiàn, jian see Traditional

Pictograph of a person (卩) using their eye (目) to see (見).

Components

目
目 Iconic component
mù eye

Depicts an eye.

卩
卩 Iconic component
jié person kneeling

Depicts a person.

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

Character Evolution

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 Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
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

Meaning (7 of 16 verified)

視覺觀規親覓覷覽覦靚覘覡覲峴覬現

Sound (2 of 5 verified)

靦莧峴硯現

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkenH[k]ˤen-s see (v.)
henHN-[k]ˤen-s appear
henHm-[k]ˤen-s cause to appear, introduce

說文解字

《說文》：“見，視也。从儿，从目。”

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)

鷹 yīng eagle Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 鳥 represents the meaning and 䧹 represents the sound.

Components

鳥
鳥 Meaning component
niǎo bird
䧹
䧹 SoundMeaning component
yīng eagle

䧹 also serves as a meaning component.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'ing[q](r)əŋ eagle, falcon

說文解字

《說文》：“，鳥也。从隹，瘖省聲。或从人，人亦聲。，籀文从鳥。”

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)