Original meaning: tattoo the face for a crime committed
Phonosemantic compound. 土 represents the meaning and 黑 represents the sound. Originally written as 黑, which depicts a person whose face has been tattooed.
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | mok | C.mˤək | ink |
說文解字
《說文》：“墨，書墨也。从土，从黑，黑亦聲。”
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)
Pictograph of a ritual object made out of several pieces of jade joined together by a string. A dot was later added to 玉 to distinguish it from 王 (king).
Components
丶 Distinguishing component
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | ngjowk | [ŋ](r)ok (< uvular?) | jade |
說文解字
《說文》：“玉，石之美。有五德：潤澤以溫，仁之方也；理自外，可以知中，義之方也；其聲舒揚，專以遠聞，智之方也；不橈而折，勇之方也；銳廉而不技，絜之方也。象三玉之連，丨，其貫也。，古文玉。”
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)