Original meaning: closed mouth
Depicts a closed mouth. Upside-down 曰. The meaning "now" is a phonetic loan.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | kim | [k]r[ə]m | now |
說文解字
《說文》：“今，是時也。从亼，从乁。乁，古文及。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.440
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
The 二 (two) component represents the meaning "second" and also indicates the sound. The 欠 (deficient) represents the meaning "secondary" or "substandard".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | tshijH | [s-n̥]i[j]-s | lodge (v.) |
| tshijH | [s-n̥]i[j]-s | put in order; second |
說文解字
《說文》：“次，不前不精也。从欠，二聲。，古文次。”
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)