人非生而知之者，孰能无惑 Origin

rén, ren person

Pictograph of the side view of a standing person.

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	nyin	ni[ŋ]	(other) person

說文解字

《說文》：“人，天地之性最貴者也。此籀文，象臂脛之形。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.630
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

fēi not

Depicts two people facing opposite directions.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (6 of 25 verified)

排罪悲菲辈匪啡斐徘裴诽腓绯扉翡蜚霏俳鲱痱悱鯡輩緋誹 show all 25 show fewer

Meaning (1 of 2 verified)

靠靡

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	pj+j	pəj	is not

說文解字

《說文》：“非，違也。从飛下翄，取其相背。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.824-825
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

shēng, sheng life

Pictograph of a sprout (屮) emerging from the ground (一).

Components

屮 Iconic component

chè, cǎo sprout

Depicts a sprout growing.

Change in form

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

一 Iconic component

yī one

Used here to depict the ground.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (7 of 11 verified)

性青星省胜姓牲甥笙旌眚

Meaning (4 of 5 verified)

靑甤甦產産

Deleted (1)

产

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	sraeng	sreŋ (MC srj- > sr-; or *s.reŋ ?)	bear, be born; live
	sraeng	sreŋ	fresh, raw
	srjaeng	sreŋ (or *s.reŋ ?)	bear, be born; live

說文解字

《說文》：“生，進也。象艸木生出土上。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.506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)

ér and

Original meaning: beard

Originally a pictograph of a beard, now written as 耏. The current use as a conjunction is a phonetic loan.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (4 of 8 verified)

需耐鸸恧鲕耎耏鴯

Iconic (2)

耐耏

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

耍

Simplified (1)

斋

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	nyi	nə	and, but

說文解字

《說文》：“而，頰毛也。象毛之形。《周禮》曰：‘作其鱗之而。’”

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)

zhī know

Phonosemantic compound. 口 represents the meaning and 矢 represents the sound.

Components

口 Meaning component

kǒu, kou mouth

Transfer of knowledge is done through speech.

矢 Sound component

shǐ arrow

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1 of 5 verified)

智痴蜘踟椥

Meaning (1)

智

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	trje	tre	know

說文解字

《說文》：“知，詞也。从口，从矢。”

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)

zhī [attributive particle]

Original meaning: go forwards

Pictograph of a foot (止) going out of an area. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

止 Sound Iconic component

zhǐ (foot), stop

Depicts a foot.

Change in form

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

一 Iconic component

yī one

Used here to depict an area.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (2 of 3 verified)

志寺芝

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tsyi	tə	go to
	tsyi	tə	(3p object pronoun; attributive particle)

說文解字

《說文》：“之，出也。象艸過屮，枝莖益大有所之。一者，地也。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.498-499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)

zhě one who...

Original meaning: paper mulberry

Pictograph of a tree with paper mulberry leaves, now written as 楮. The distinguishing mark 口 was added later. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

◎ Iconic component

characterless component

Depicts a tree with paper mulberry leaves. Original form of 楮.

口 Distinguishing component

kǒu, kou mouth

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (14 of 28 verified)

着都书著诸署绪猪赌屠堵睹煮奢暑褚赭渚箸锗楮翥諸豬緒書賭啫 show all 28 show fewer

Simplified (1)

书

Iconic (1)

楮

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tsyaeX	tAʔ	(nominalizing particle)

說文解字

《說文》：“者，別事詞也。从白，聲。，古文旅字。”

Sources

Character origin: 林志強《《文源》評注》p.524-525李学勤《字源》p.290
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

shú who? which? what? which one?

Original meaning: offer sacrifice

Depicts a person with both hands outstretched (丮) offering food at a temple (享). Based on the original meaning "offer sacrifice". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

享 Iconic component

xiǎng enjoy

Depicts a temple or shrine.

丮 Iconic component

jǐ catch

Depicts a person with both hands outstretched. Modern form looks like unrelated 丸.

Change in form

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

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

熟塾

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	dzyuwk	[d]uk	who

說文解字

《說文》：“，食飪也。从，聲。《易》曰：‘孰飪。’”

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)

néng to be able

Original meaning: bear

Pictograph of a bear. Based on the original meaning "bear". The meaning of this character has shifted over time to mean "strong" and "ability, power". Original form of 熊.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Iconic (2)

熊罷

Sound (1)

態

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	noj	nˤə	a kind of bear
	nong	nˤə(ŋ)	a kind of bear
	nong	nˤə(ʔ) (~ *nˤəŋ)	able; ability

說文解字

《說文》：“能，熊屬，足似鹿。从肉，聲。能獸堅中，故稱賢能，而彊壯稱能傑也。”

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.752
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

wú negative Simplified

Original meaning: dance

Pictograph of a person dancing, with ox tails or bird feathers hanging from his arms, to pray for rain. Original form of 舞 (dance). The current form is a phonetic loan. The simplified character 无 was adapted from the cursive form of the traditional character 無.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 6 verified)

抚芜妩庑呒怃

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	mju	ma	not have

說文解字

《說文》：“，亡也，从亡無聲；无，奇字无，通於元者，王育說：‘天屈西北為无。’”

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.495
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

huò, huo confuse

Components

或 Sound component

huò or

心 Meaning component

xīn, xin heart

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	hwok	[ɢ]ʷˤək	deceive

說文解字

《說文》：“惑，亂也。从心，或聲。”

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)

wú negative Traditional

Original meaning: dance

Pictograph of a person dancing, with ox tails or bird feathers hanging from his arms, to pray for rain. Original form of 舞 (dance). The current meaning is a phonetic loan.