Jiā​zī​ní

Ghazni

jiā add

Depicts making loud noises with the mouth () to add power () during manual labor.

Components

Meaning component
lì, li power
Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkaekˤraj add

說文解字

《說文》:“加,語相增加也。从力,从口。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

zī, cí now Simplified

Components

Meaning component
bā, xx “ears-out” component used in some Chinese characters (e.g. U+5151 兑)
Meaning component
one
Meaning component
yāo tiny
Meaning component
yāo tiny

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 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 Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 8 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangʔsɯ

說文解字

《說文》:“玆,黑也。从二玄。”

Sources

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

ní, nǐ Buddhist nun

Original meaning: stop; approach

Depicts one person () carrying another person () on their back. Based on the original meaning "stop; approach". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

Iconic component
shī sitting person
Iconic component
bǐ, pìn spoon, (person)

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 9 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartnejXnˤərʔ to stop
nejHnˤərʔ-s to stop, obstruct
nrijnr[əj] near, close

說文解字

《說文》:“尼,從後近之。从尸,匕聲。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.675-676
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

now Traditional

Components

Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass
Meaning component
yāo tiny
Meaning component
yāo tiny

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 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
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 Chinese
Zhengzhangʔsɯ
Unicodetziə
dzhiə

說文解字

《說文》:“茲,艸木多益。从艸,茲省聲。”

Sources

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