低低切切
dī​dī​qiè​qiè

whispered

低 dī low

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 氐 represents the sound.

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

氐
氐 SoundMeaning component
dī, dǐ, zhī bottom

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangtiːl
Unicodedei
dei

說文解字

《說文新附》：“低，下也。从人、氐，氐亦聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

切 qiè, qiē cut

Phonosemantic compound. 刀 represents the meaning and 七 represents the sound.

Components

七
七 Sound component
qī seven
刀
刀 Meaning component
dāo knife

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 4 verified)

彻窃砌沏

Meaning (1 of 2 verified)

彻砌

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttshet[tsʰ]ˤi[t] cut; urgent

說文解字

《說文》：“切，刌也。从刀，七聲。”

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)