化干戈为玉帛
huà​gān​gē​wéi​yù​bó

reconcile

化 huà change

Pictograph of a right-side up person (亻) and an upside-down person (𠤎), depicting the meaning "turn around" or "transform".

Components

亻
亻 Iconic component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

𠤎
𠤎 Iconic component
huà upside-down person

Depicts an upside-down person.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (4 of 7 verified)

花华货靴讹貨訛

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartxwaeHqʷʰˤ<r>aj-s transform

說文解字

《說文》：“化，教行也。从，从人，亦聲。”

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)

干 gàn, gān interfere

Pictograph of a type of hunting or military tool.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (6 of 22 verified)

赶岸刊汗肝奸杆罕轩旱竿鼾秆矸酐旰顸犴邗軒幹豻

Meaning (0 of 3 verified)

秆讦顸

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkan[k]ˤar pole
kankˤa[r] shield (n.)
kankˤar piece, item
kankˤar (placename)

說文解字

《說文》：“干，犯也。从反入，从一。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.146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)

戈 gē spear

Pictograph of a weapon with a long shaft and horizontal blade.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (13 of 22 verified)

战戏戒贼戳戮戟戛戡戕戬戗戥戢賊戠戰戲戜戧𢦏𢦔

Iconic (11)

或武伐蔑戎戍臧戋幾㦰戔

Sound (2 of 4 verified)

找划栽戤

Simplified (1)

尧

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkwakʷˤaj dagger-axe

說文解字

《說文》：“戈，平頭也。从弋，一横之，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)

为 wèi, wéi do Simplified

Simplified form of 為. Pictograph of a hand (又) guiding an elephant (象) to do work (in ancient China elephants were tamed to do work). Based on the meaning "to work; to do".

Components

又
又 Iconic component
yòu hand
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 又 than it was in ancient scripts.
象
象 IconicSimplified component
xiàng elephant

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

伪沩

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.194
Readings & variants
Unicode

玉 yù jade

Pictograph of a ritual object made out of several pieces of jade joined together by a string. A dot was later added to 玉 to distinguish it from 王 (king).

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a ritual object made out of several pieces of jade joined together by a string.

丶
丶 Distinguishing component
zhǔ dot

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 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
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (2 of 8 verified)

莹璧玺钰璺鈺璽瑩

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

国钰鈺

Iconic (3)

宝弄珏

Simplified (1)

国

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartngjowk[ŋ](r)ok (< uvular?) jade

說文解字

《說文》：“玉，石之美。有五德：潤澤以溫，仁之方也；理自外，可以知中，義之方也；其聲舒揚，專以遠聞，智之方也；不橈而折，勇之方也；銳廉而不技，絜之方也。象三玉之連，丨，其貫也。，古文玉。”

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)

帛 bó silks

Phonosemantic compound. 巾 represents the meaning and 白 represents the sound.

Components

巾
巾 Meaning component
jīn cloth
白
白 Sound component
bái, bai white
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 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
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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (1 of 6 verified)

锦棉绵綿錦幫

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartbaek[b]ˤrak silk

說文解字

《說文》：“帛，繒也。从巾，白聲。”

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)

為 wèi, wéi do Traditional

Originally written as 爲, which depicts a hand (又) guiding an elephant (象) to do work (in ancient China elephants were tamed to do work). Based on the meaning "to work; to do".

Components

又
又 Iconic component
yòu hand

Depicts a hand.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 又 than it was in ancient scripts.
象
象 Iconic component
xiàng elephant
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 象 than it was in ancient scripts.

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 Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 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 Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 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 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 Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 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 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

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

偽

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthjweɢʷ(r)aj make, do, act as
hjweHɢʷ(r)aj-s for, because

說文解字

《說文》：“爲，母猴也，其爲禽好爪，爪，母猴象也；下腹爲母猴形。王育曰：‘爪，象形也。’，古文爲，象兩母猴相對形。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.194
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)