告示牌
gào​shì​pái

signboard

告 gào tell

Pictograph of a tongue extending from an open mouth. Visually similar to 舌 (tongue).

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a tongue extending from an open mouth.

口
口 Iconic component
kǒu, kou mouth

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 14 verified)

造靠浩酷皓窖诰鹄梏锆郜牿鋯鵠

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

诰

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkawHkˤuk-s announce, inform
kowkkˤuk announce, inform

說文解字

《說文》：“告，牛觸人，角箸橫木，所以告人也。从口，从牛。《易》曰：‘僮牛之告。’”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.95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)

示 shì show

Depicts a memorial tablet used for spiritual rituals.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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

Component uses

Meaning (5 of 7 verified)

宗禁奈祭祟禦齋

Simplified (3)

际标禀

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

佘眎

Iconic (1)

柰

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartzyijHs-gijʔ-s show (v.)
tsyeHke-s put (= 寘)

說文解字

《說文》：“示，天垂象，見吉凶，所以示人也。从二；三垂，日、月、星也。觀乎天文以察時變，示，神事也。，古文示。”

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)

牌 pái signboard

Phonosemantic compound. 片 represents the meaning and 卑 represents the sound.

Components

片
片 Meaning component
piàn, piān slice
卑
卑 Sound component
bēi humble, inferior

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangbreː
breː

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang