yì​bù​yì​qū

follow suit

also

Original meaning: armpit

Pictograph of a person, with two dots at the armpits. Based on the original meaning "armpit", now written as . The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

Iconic component
dà, dài big

Depicts a person.

Iconic component
characterless component

Indicates the location of the armpits.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 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 Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (4 of 7 verified)

Meaning (0 of 4 verified)

Simplified (3)

Unknown (0 of 3 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartyek[ɢ](r)Ak armpit
yekɢ(r)Ak also

說文解字

《說文》:“亦,人之臂亦也。从大,象兩亦之形。”

Sources

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

step

Pictograph of one foot in front of another, depicting footsteps.

Components

Iconic component
zhǐ (foot), stop
𣥂
𣥂 Iconic component
(foot), to trample

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 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 (1 of 2 verified)

Iconic (1)

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartbuHmə-bˤa-s step

說文解字

《說文》:“步,行也。从止,相背。”

Sources

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

hasten, approach Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Simplified form of .

Components

Meaning component
zǒu walk
Sound component
chú, zōu mow, cut grass

Sources

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

hasten, approach Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
zǒu walk
Sound component
mow, cut grass

Character Evolution

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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsrhju[ts]ʰro hasten

說文解字

《說文》:“趨,走也。从走,芻聲。”

Sources

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