先斩后奏 Origin — Chinese Character Wiki

xiān first

Depicts a person (人) stepping forward (止) leading the way.

Components

止 Iconic component

zhǐ (foot), stop

Depicts a foot stepping forward.

Change in form

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

人 Iconic component

rén, ren person

Change in form

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

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC

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

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (4 of 11 verified)

选洗宪酰诜铣跣冼筅銑兟

Meaning (1)

兟

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	sen	sˤər	first
	senH	sˤər-s	go first

說文解字

《說文》：“先，前進也。从儿，从之。”

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)

zhǎn, zhàn chop Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 车 represents the sound and 斤 represents the meaning. Simplified from 斬.

Components

车 Sound component

chē cart, vehicle

Change in sound

斩 and 车 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Middle Chinese.
斩 tsreamX
车 tsyhae

斤 Meaning component

jīn axe

Component uses

Sound (2 of 7 verified)

渐暂惭崭堑錾椠

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

錾

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

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

hòu queen, after Simplified

Original meaning: heir to the throne

Depicts a queen mother (母) giving birth to her heir (𠫓). Based on the original meaning "heir to the throne". The meaning later expanded to "ruler", "successor", and "after".

Components

母 Iconic component

mǔ mother

Change in form

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

𠫓 Iconic component

tū, yù newborn

Depicts a child being born.

Change in form

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

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 5 verified)

垢逅诟骺詬

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

骺

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	huwX	ɢˤ(r)oʔ	sovereign; queen

說文解字

《說文》：“后，繼體君也。象人之形。施令以告四方，故厂之，从一、口。發號者，君后也。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.708-709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)

zòu memorialize emperor

Original meaning: perform music and dance as prayer

Depicts holding decorative plant (𠦪) in both hands (廾) for use in a musical performance to pray.

Components

𠦪 Iconic component

tāo, hū decorative plant

Change in form

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

廾 Iconic component

gǒng two hands

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 6 verified)

凑揍辏腠楱湊

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tsuwH	tsˤo(ʔ)-s	bring forward; perform (music)

說文解字

《說文》：“奏，奏進也。从夲，从，从屮；屮，上進之義。，古文。，亦古文。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.778-779
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

chop Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 車 represents the sound and 斤 represents the meaning.

Components

車 Sound component

chē cart, vehicle

Change in sound

斬 and 車 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Middle Chinese.
斬 tsreamX
車 tsyhae

斤 Meaning component

jīn axe

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (2 of 5 verified)

嶄慚漸塹暫

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tsreamX	[ts]ramʔ	cut off

說文解字

《說文》：“斬，也。从車，从斤。斬法車裂也。”

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)

behind Traditional

Depicts someone's foot (夂) being held back by a rope (幺), preventing them from being able to walk (彳) forward.

Components

彳 Meaning component

chì, fú walk

彳 is a component form of 行.

幺 Iconic component

yāo tiny

Depicts a rope.

夂 Iconic component

zhǐ, zhōng go

夂 is a component form of 止.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	huwX	[ɢ]ˤ(r)oʔ	after
	huwH	[ɢ]ˤ(r)oʔ-s	put after ?

說文解字

《說文》：“後，遲也。从彳幺夊者，後也。，古文後从辵。”

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)

先 xiān first

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (4 of 11 verified)

Meaning (1)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

斩 zhǎn, zhàn chop Simplified

Components

Component uses

Sound (2 of 7 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

后 hòu queen, after Simplified

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (0 of 5 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

奏 zòu memorialize emperor

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (0 of 6 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

斬 chop Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (2 of 5 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

後 behind Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

xiān first

zhǎn, zhàn chop Simplified

hòu queen, after Simplified

zòu memorialize emperor

chop Traditional

behind Traditional