以亿计
yǐ​yì​jì

hundreds of millions

以 yǐ by means of

Original meaning: carry

Depicts a person (人) carrying something.

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts something being carried.

人
人 Iconic component
rén, ren person

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
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 Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Eastern Han 25-220 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 4 verified)

似拟苡姒

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartyiXləʔ take, use

說文解字

《說文》：“，用也。从反已。賈侍中說，已，意已實也。象形。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.980
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

亿 yì hundred million Simplified

Original meaning: quiet; at rest

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 乙 represents the sound. Simplified form of 億. Based on the original meaning "quiet; at rest". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

Change in meaning
亻 hints at the original meaning of 亿, "quiet; at rest", which is no longer the most common meaning of 亿 in modern Mandarin.
乙
乙 Sound component
yǐ second

Sources

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

计 jì, ji calculate Simplified

Depicts saying (言) numbers (十) to count or calculate.

Components

讠
讠 Meaning component
yán speech

讠 is a component form of 言.

十
十 Meaning component
shí ten

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

億 yì hundred million Traditional

Original meaning: quiet; at rest

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 意 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "quiet; at rest". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

Change in meaning
亻 hints at the original meaning of 億, "quiet; at rest", which is no longer the most common meaning of 億 in modern Mandarin.
意
意 Sound component
yì, yi thought

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Seal form
Seal Xin 9-23 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'ikʔ(r)ək 100,000

說文解字

《說文》：“億，安也。从人，意聲。”

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)

計 jì, ji calculate Traditional

Depicts saying (言) numbers (十) to count or calculate.

Components

言
言 Meaning component
yán speech
十
十 Meaning component
shí ten

Character Evolution

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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkejHkˤij-s calculate

說文解字

《說文》：“計，會也，筭也。从言，从十。”

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)