Origin unclear. Composed of 辛 (chisel) and 丙 (pedestal) with 口 being later added as a distinguishing component for the name of an ancient kingdom.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | syang | s-taŋ | musical note |
| syang | s-taŋ | (place name) | |
| syang | s-taŋ | estimate; business; trader |
說文解字
《說文》：“商，从外知內也。从，章省聲。，古文商。，亦古文商。，籀文商。”
Sources
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Simplified
Traditional
Original meaning: label on a book
Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 僉 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "label on a book". The meaning later shifted to "arrange" and "examine".
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | kjemX | [k]r[a]mʔ | measure (n.) |
說文解字
《說文》：“檢，書署也。从木，僉聲。”
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)