基本需要
jī​běn​xū​yào

basic needs

基 jī foundation

Phonosemantic compound. 土 represents the meaning and 其 represents the sound.

Components

其
其 Sound component
qí its, his, (3p possessive)
土
土 Meaning component
tǔ earth

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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 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-Sagartkik(r)ə base (n.)

說文解字

《說文》：“基，牆始也。从土，其聲。”

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)

本 běn root

Addition of a horizontal line toward the bottom of 木 (tree) to represent the roots of the tree.

Components

木
木 Iconic component
mù tree
◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts roots.


Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 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
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 4 verified)

笨钵苯缽

Meaning (1)

体

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartpwonXC.pˤə[n]ʔ tree trunk

說文解字

《說文》：“本，木下曰本。从木，一在其下。楍，古文。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.484-485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)

需 xū need

Original meaning: become wet

Pictograph of a person standing under the rain (雨), representing the meaning "become wet", now written as 濡. The current meaning is a phonetic loan. The person component was later replaced with the phonetic component 而.

Components

雨
雨 Iconic component
yǔ rain
而
而 Sound component
ér and
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 11 verified)

儒懦蠕孺嚅糯濡薷襦颥顬

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsjus-no wait

說文解字

《說文》：“需，也，遇雨不進止也。从雨，而聲。《易》曰：‘雲上於天，需。’”

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)

要 yào, yāo want

Original meaning: waist

Pictograph of two hands grabbing a woman's (女) waist. The current meaning "want" is a phonetic loan. The original meaning "waist" is now written as 腰.

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts two hands grabbing a waist.

Change in meaning
◎ hints at the original meaning of 要, "waist", which is no longer the most common meaning of 要 in modern Mandarin.
女
女 Iconic component
nǚ, nü woman

Character Evolution

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

Sound (2 of 3 verified)

票腰崾

Remnant (1)

票

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'jiewH[q]ew(k)-s important

說文解字

《說文》：“要，身中也，象人要自之形。从，交省聲。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.183
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)