Original meaning: hand
Pictograph of a hand. The character is based on the original meaning "hand". The current meaning "again" is a phonetic loan.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | hjuwH | [ɢ]ʷəʔ-s | also, in addition |
說文解字
手也。象形。三指者，手之𠛱多略不過三也。凡又之屬皆从又。
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)
Original meaning: armless child
Pictograph of a young child, similar to 子, but without arms. Compare to 孑 (child only with right arm) and 孓 (child only with left arm). The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | |
|---|---|---|
| Zhengzhang | reːwʔ | |
| Unicode | leǔ | |
| leǔ |
說文解字
《說文》：“了，尦也。从子無臂，象形。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.972
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Zhengzhang Shangfang
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Traditional
Original meaning: wheat
Pictograph of a stalk of wheat. The current meaning "come" is a phonetic loan. The original meaning "wheat" is now written as 麥.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | loj | mə.rˤək (> *mə.rˤə) | a kind of wheat |
| loj | mə.rˤək (> *rˤə) | come |
說文解字
《說文》：“來，周所受瑞麥來麰，一來二縫。象芒朿之形。天所來也，故為行來之來。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.465
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)