Liù​tāo

Six Secret Teachings

liù six

Origin unclear. Various explainations include (1) possibly derives from (enter), with two strokes on the bottom to distinguish it from (enter) or (2) a pictograph of a hut, which is thought to be the original form of . Either way, the current meaning is a phoentic loan.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 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 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-Sagartljuwkk.ruk six

說文解字

《說文》:“六,《易》之數,陰變於六,正於八。从入,从八。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫黃德寬《古文字譜系疏證》p.635-637Wiktionary
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

tāo, tào sheath Simplified

Components

Meaning component
wéi, huí tanned leather

leather

Sound component
yǎo to scoop up

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

sheath Traditional

Components

Meaning component
(surround a city), tanned leather

leather

Sound component
yǎo to scoop up

Character Evolution

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

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangl̥ʰuː

說文解字

劒衣也。从韋舀聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica