hē​liáng​shuǐ​dōu​sāi​yá

unlucky

hē, he, hè drink

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth
Sound component
hé, è, hè why? what? where?

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangqraːds
qʰoːb
qʰaːd
Unicodexɑt

說文解字

《說文》:“喝,也。从口,曷聲。”

Sources

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

liáng cool Simplified

Original meaning: light alcohol, dilute wine

Phonosemantic compound. is a simplification of (water), based on the original meaning "light alcohol, dilute wine". represents the sound. Simplified form of .

Components

bīng ice

was simplified to .

Sound component
jīng capital city
Change in sound

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

shuǐ water

Depicts the flow of water in a river.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
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 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 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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsywijXs.turʔ (E dialect: *-r > *-j)water; river

說文解字

《說文》:“水,準也。北方之行。象眾水並流,中有微陽之气也。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.795
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

dōu, dū metropolis

Phonosemantic compound. ⻏ represents the meaning and represents the sound. Based on the meaning "large city, capital", which is the meaning when pronounced "dū". When pronounced "dōu", it has the unrelated meaning "all", etymologically related to (many).

Components

Sound component
zhě one who...
Change in sound
Meaning component
city

⻏ is a component form of .

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Spring and Autumn ~600 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttutˤa capital city

說文解字

有先君之舊宗廟曰都。从邑者聲。周禮:距國五百里爲都。

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

sāi, sè stop up

Depicts two hands () stuffing various objects () into an enclosed space (). The (earth) component was added later.

Components

Iconic component
mián roof
Iconic component
gōng work
Iconic component
gōng work
Iconic component
gǒng two hands
Meaning component
earth

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsojH[s]ˤək-s frontier
sojH[s]ˤək-s pass (n.)
sok[s]ˤək stop up, block (v.)

說文解字

《說文》:“塞,隔也。从土,从。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫李学勤《字源》p.1189-1190
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

tooth

Depicts top and bottom teeth touching each other.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
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 Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (1 of 2 verified)

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartngaem-ɢˤ<r>a tooth

說文解字

《說文》:“牙,牡齒也。象上下相錯之形。,古文牙。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.139-140漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

liáng cool Traditional

Original meaning: light alcohol, dilute wine

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

is a component form of .

Sound component
jīng capital city
Change in sound

Character Evolution

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-SagartljangC.raŋ cold

說文解字

《說文》:“涼,薄也。从水,京聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica