ní​ní​chī​chī

docile

ne, ní interrogative or emphatic final

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. (mouth) indicates that the character is only "mouthed", i.e. only used for its phonetic value.

Components

Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth
Sound component
ní, nǐ Buddhist nun

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangnil

Sources

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

chī foolish Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Simplified form of .

Components

Meaning component
sick
Sound component
zhī know

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangl̥ʰɯ

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

chī silly Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
sick
Sound component
doubt

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangŋ̊ʰl'ɯ
Unicodetjiə

說文解字

《說文》:“癡,不慧也。从疒,疑聲。”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica