兵不厌诈
bīng​bù​yàn​zhà

deception in war

兵 bīng soldier

Pictograph of two hands (廾) holding a weapon.

Components

斤
斤 Iconic component
jīn axe

Depicts a weapon.

廾
廾 Iconic component
gǒng two hands

Depicts two hands.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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 Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 4 verified)

宾乒乓浜

Remnant (2)

乒乓

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpjaengpraŋ weapon

說文解字

《說文》：“，械也。从廾持斤，并力之皃。，古文兵从人、廾、干。兵，籀文。”

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)

不 bù, bu no

Original meaning: sepals

Pictograph of sepals of a flower. The modern meaning "no" is a phonetic loan.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
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
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
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

Component uses

Sound (3 of 5 verified)

否杯钚罘盃

Simplified (4)

还环怀坏

Meaning (1 of 4 verified)

否歪甭孬

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpjuwpə not
pjuwpə 不律 writing brush (pron. in Wú 吳 ap. Shuōwén; E. Hàn)

說文解字

《說文》：“不，鳥飛上翔不下來也。从一，一猶天也。象形。”

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)

厌 yàn dislike Simplified

Simplified form of 厭. Phonosemantic compound. 厂 represents the meaning and 猒 represents the sound.

Components

厂
厂 Meaning component
chǎng cliff, (roof)

The outer walls of buildings in premodern China were filled with earth that was packed down (壓). This is one of the cases where the forms of 广 (building) and 厂 (cliff) were used interchangeably to mean the same thing.

犬
犬 Simplified component
quǎn dog

Shorthand for the sound component 猒 in the traditional character 厭.

Component uses

Sound (1 of 5 verified)

压魇靥餍恹

Simplified (1)

压

Sources

Character origin
李学勤《字源》p.832
Readings & variants
Unicode

诈 zhà cheat Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 讠 represents the meaning and 乍 represents the sound. Simplified form of 詐.

Components

讠
讠 Meaning component
yán speech

讠 is a component form of 言.

乍
乍 Sound component
zhà, zuò suddenly

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

厭 yàn dislike Traditional

Original meaning: to push down on

Original form of 壓. Phonosemantic compound. 厂 represents the meaning and 猒 represents the sound.

Components

厂
厂 Meaning component
chǎng cliff, (roof)

The outer walls of buildings in premodern China were filled with earth that was packed down (壓). This is one of the cases where the forms of 广 (building) and 厂 (cliff) were used interchangeably to mean the same thing.

Change in meaning
厂 hints at the original meaning of 厭, "to push down on", which is no longer the most common meaning of 厭 in modern Mandarin.
猒
猒 Sound component
yàn satiate, eat one's fill

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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 Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 4 verified)

饜懨壓魘

Meaning (1)

壓

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'jiepʔep press (v.)
'jiemʔem contented (adj.)

說文解字

《說文》：“厭，笮也。从厂，猒聲。一曰：合也。”

Sources

Character origin
李学勤《字源》p.832The Outlier Linguistics Dictionary of Chinese Characters
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

詐 cheat Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 言 represents the meaning and 乍 represents the sound.

Components

言
言 Meaning component
yán speech
乍
乍 Sound component
zhà, zuò suddenly

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
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-SagarttsraeH[ts]ˤrak-streacherous
Zhengzhangʔsraːɡs

說文解字

欺也。从言乍聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)