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Seal Shuowen ~100 AD 
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC 
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD 
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD Regular Modern
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Changed fields: gloss, hint, originalMeaning, isVerified, customSources
Original meaning: file of ten soldiers
The character is based on the original meaning "file of ten soldiers". The modern meaning "what" is a phonetic loan.
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | dzyip | t.[g]əp | troop of ten men |
說文解字
《說文》：“什，相什保也。从人、十。”
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)