受理
shòu​lǐ HSK7

accept case

受 shòu receive

Depicts a boat (舟) being passed from one hand (爫) to another hand (又). 舟 also served as phonetic, but it was later abbreviated.

Components

爫
爫 Iconic component
zhǎo hand, claw

爫 is a component form of 爪.

舟
舟 SoundIconic component
zhōu boat
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 舟 than it was in ancient scripts.
又
又 Iconic component
yòu hand

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

授绶綬

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdzyuwX[d]uʔ receive

說文解字

《說文》：“受，相付也。从，舟省聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫裘錫圭 "Chinese Writing" p.189
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

理 lǐ, li reason

Original meaning: cut jade

Phonosemantic compound. 𤣩 represents the meaning and 里 represents the sound.

Components

𤣩
𤣩 Meaning component
yù jade

𤣩 is a component form of 玉.

Change in meaning
𤣩 hints at the original meaning of 理, "cut jade", which is no longer the most common meaning of 理 in modern Mandarin.
里
里 Sound component
lǐ, li village

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartliXm(ə).rəʔ cut jade; regulate
liXm(ə).rəʔ reason; principle

說文解字

《說文》：“理，治玉也。从玉，里聲。”

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)