Simplified
Original meaning: head
Depicts a person (大) with an emphasized head. Based on the original meaning "head". The meaning later shifted to "top", "high", and "sky".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | then | l̥ˤi[n] | heaven |
| xen | l̥ˤi[n] (W dialect: l̥ˤ- > Hàn-time *xˤ- > MC x-) | heaven |
說文解字
《說文》：“天，顛也。至高无上，从一、大。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.40-41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)
Traditional
Original meaning: Three Stars constellation
Depicts three (三) stars (晶) shining (光). Originally represented the Three Stars constellation (參) in Chinese astronomy. The more common meaning "take part in" is a phonetic loan.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | tshom | r̥ˤəʔ | accumulate |
| tsrhim | [tsʰr][u]m | 參差 tsrhim.tsrhje uneven | |
| sam | s.rum (*s.r- > s-; infl. by 四 *s-?) | three | |
| srim | srum (should be *s.rum) | the constellation Orion’ (named for the three stars in Orion’s belt) |
說文解字
《說文》：“曑，商星也。从晶，聲。參，曑或省。”
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)