各国 Origin — Chinese Character Wiki

Chinese Character Wiki Wiki

gèguó

each country

gè each

Original meaning: arrive

Depicts a foot (夂) arriving at an entrance (口). Based on the original meaning "arrive". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

夂 Iconic component

zhǐ, zhōng go

夂 is a component form of 止, which depicts a foot.

口 Iconic component

kǒu, kou mouth

Depicts an entrance.

Character Evolution

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~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

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

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Component uses

Sound (7 of 27 verified)

路格客略洛络阁胳咯骆烙骼恪酪铬珞貉硌袼辂絡饹閣賂餎鉻駱 show all 27 show fewer

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kak	kˤak	each

說文解字

《說文》：“各，異辭也。从口、夂。夂者，有行而止之，不相聽也。”

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.100-101
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

guó nation Simplified

Simplified form of 國. Phonosemantic compound. 囗 represents the meaning and 或 represents the sound.

Components

囗 Meaning component

wéi, guó surround

玉 Sound Simplified component

yù jade

Shorthand for the 或 component in the traditional character 國.

Change in sound

国 and 玉 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
国 *[C.q]ʷˤək
玉 *[ŋ](r)ok (< uvular?)

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

guó nation Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 囗 represents the meaning and 或 represents the sound.

Components

囗 Meaning component

wéi, guó surround

或 Sound component

huò or

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 4 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kwok	[C.q]ʷˤək	state (n.)

說文解字

《說文》：“國，邦也。从囗，从或。”

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)