Pictograph of a person, represented by their head (頁) and feet (夂), being heated underneath the sun (日). The sun component was later omitted for brevity during the Warring States period.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | haeX | [ɢ]ˤraʔ | great |
| haeH | [g]ˤraʔ (~ *[g]ˤraʔ-s) | summer |
說文解字
《說文》：“夏，中國之人也。从夊、从頁、从。，兩手；夊，兩足也。，古文（夏）。”
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)
Original meaning: long river
Same origin as 永. Pictograph of a long river with a tributary. The meaning later shifted to "overflow" and "spill over".
Character Evolution
Component uses
Sound (1)
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | yenX | N-q(r)anʔ | overflow |
說文解字
《說文》：“衍，水朝宗于海也。从水，从行。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.796裘錫圭《裘錫圭學術文集》Vol 1, p.382
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)