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Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC 
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC 
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC 
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC 
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC 
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD 
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD 
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD 
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD Regular Modern
meaning
Changed fields: originalMeaning
Pictograph of the head of an axe. Used to represent a soldier.
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | dzriX | [m-s-]rəʔ | officer; gentleman |
說文解字
《說文》：“士，事也。數始於一，終於十。从一，从十。孔子曰：‘推十合一為士。’”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.59-60
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)