大义灭亲 Origin — Chinese Character Wiki

dà, dài big

Depicts an adult man facing forward and standing erect. The meaning later shifted to "big".

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Meaning (9 of 21 verified)

去太奇套尖奈赤契夸奎奢奕叁奘夯奁夼尜奩奓𢧤 show all 21 show fewer

Iconic (21)

天因美夫央亦乘衡牵熊夹爽奚鬱粦耎夨叕夾椉業 show all 21 show fewer

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	daH	lˤat-s (MC F!)	big
	dajH	lˤa[t]-s	big

說文解字

《說文》：“大，天大、地大、人亦大，故大象人形。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.764
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

yì justice Simplified

Adapted from the cursive form of the traditional character 義. Phonosemantic compound. 羊 represents the meaning and 我 represents the sound. In ancient China sheep (羊) were associated with goodness and beauty, which is why 羊 is a component in characters like 美 (beautiful), 善 (benevolent), and 義 (justice).

Components

羊 Meaning Simplified component

yáng sheep

我 Sound Simplified component

wǒ I; me

Change in sound

义 and 我 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
义 *ŋ(r)aj-s
我 *ŋˤajʔ

Component uses

Sound (1 of 4 verified)

议仪蚁舣

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

miè extinguish Simplified

Depicts putting a cover over a fire (火) to smother it. Simplified from 滅.

Components

◎ Iconic component

characterless component

Depicts a cover used to smother a fire.

火 Iconic component

huǒ fire

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode

qīn, qin relatives Simplified

Original meaning: chestnut tree

Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 辛 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "chestnut". This character was repurposed during character simplification as the simplified form of 親.

Components

辛 Sound component

xīn laborious

木 Meaning component

mù tree

Change in meaning

木 hints at the original meaning of 亲, "chestnut tree", which is no longer the most common meaning of 亲 in modern Mandarin.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

榇親

說文解字

《說文》：“𣓀，果實如小栗。从木，辛聲。《春秋傳》曰：‘女摯不過栗。’”

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

yì right conduct Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 羊 represents the meaning and 我 represents the sound. In ancient China sheep (羊) were associated with goodness and beauty, which is why 羊 is a component in characters like 美 (beautiful), 善 (benevolent), and 義 (justice).