凯歌
kǎi​gē HSK7

paean

凯 kǎi victorious Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 岂 represents the meaning and 几 represents the sound. Simplified form of 凱.

Components

岂
岂 SoundMeaning component
qǐ victorious music, happy
几
几 Sound component
jǐ, jī small table
Change in sound

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

Character origin
李学勤《字源》p.430
Readings & variants
Unicode

歌 gē, ge song

Originally depicted a person carrying an axe while singing. Now a phonosemantic compound. 欠 (pictograph of a person opening their mouth) represents the meaning and 哥 represents the sound.

Components

哥
哥 Sound component
gē, ge elder brother

Originally depicted an axe being carried. Later reanalyzed into phonetic component 哥.

欠
欠 Iconic component
qiàn, qian yawn, deficient

Depicts a person opening their mouth.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartka[k]ˤaj sing, song

說文解字

《說文》：“歌，詠也。从欠，哥聲。謌，謌（歌）或从言。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.696
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

凱 victorious Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 豈 represents the meaning and 几 represents the sound.

Components

豈
豈 SoundMeaning component
qǐ victorious music, happy
几
几 Sound component
jǐ, jī small table
Change in sound

Character Evolution

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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkhojXC.qʰˤəjʔ pleasant

Sources

Character origin
李学勤《字源》p.430
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica