wáng​qī

late wife

wáng death

Original meaning: tip of a blade

Depicts the tip of a knife blade (). Similar in origin to . Based on the original meaning "tip of a blade", now written as . The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

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

Depicts the tip of a knife.


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 Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (2 of 3 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartmjangmaŋ flee; disappear; die

說文解字

《說文》:“亡,逃也。从入,从。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.871漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

wife

Pictograph of a hand grabbing a woman's hair to take her as a wife. In ancient China, women of marriageable age wore hairpins (compare with ).

Components

Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a woman's hair.

Iconic component
yòu hand

Depicts a hand grabbing a woman's hair.

Iconic component
nǚ, nü woman

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 Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 5 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttshej[tsʰ]ˤəj consort, wife
tshejH[tsʰ]ˤəj-s give as wife

說文解字

《說文》:“妻,婦與夫齊者也。从女,从屮,从又。又,持事,妻職也。,古文妻从、女。,古文貴字。”

Sources

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