Original meaning: climb
Pictograph of a hand (又) climbing a cliff (厂). Based on original meaning "climb", now written as 扳. The meaning later shifted to "pull" and "reverse".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | baenX | [b]ˤranʔ | dignified, grand |
| pjonX | Cə.panʔ | reverse (v.) |
說文解字
《說文》：“反，覆也。从又、厂。反形。，古文。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.206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: go forwards
Pictograph of a foot (止) going out of an area. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | tsyi | tə | go to |
| tsyi | tə | (3p object pronoun; attributive particle) |
說文解字
《說文》：“之，出也。象艸過屮，枝莖益大有所之。一者，地也。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.498-499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: armpit
Pictograph of a person, with two dots at the armpits. Based on the original meaning "armpit", now written as 腋. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | yek | [ɢ](r)Ak | armpit |
| yek | ɢ(r)Ak | also |
說文解字
《說文》：“亦，人之臂亦也。从大，象兩亦之形。”
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)
Original meaning: burn
Phonosemantic compound. 灬 represents the meaning and 肰 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "burn", now written as 燃. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Sound (1)
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | nyen | [n]a[n] | so, thus; (adv suffix) |
說文解字
《說文》：“然，燒也。从火，肰聲。，或从艸、難。”
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)