← Back to history 
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC 
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC 
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD 
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC 
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD 
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD 
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD Regular Modern
Verify
Changed fields: hint, isVerified, components, customSources, strokeDataSimp, fragmentsSimp, historicalImages
Original meaning: crooked
Derived from 正, but with the line on top slanted to indicate "crooked (i.e. not straight)". The meaning later shifted to "lack".
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | bjop | [b](r)[o]p | lack (v.) |
說文解字
《說文》：“乏，《春秋傳》曰：‘反正為乏。’”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.121
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)