Original meaning: breast
Possibly depicts a woman standing sideways with her breasts protruding. Based on the original meaning "breast", now written as 奶. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | nojX | nˤə(ŋ)ʔ | your |
| nojX | nˤəʔ | then |
說文解字
《說文》：“ 乃，曳詞之難也。象气之出難。，古文乃。，籀文乃。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.389漢語多功能字庫徐中舒《甲骨文字典》p.500-501
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Pictograph of an arrow hitting its target.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | tsyijH | ti[t]-s | arrive |
說文解字
《說文》：“至，鳥飛从高下至地也。从一，一猶地也。象形。不，上去。而至，下來也。，古文至。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.829
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)