大汉族主义 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)

hàn Chinese people Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 𦰩 represents the sound. In simplified characters, the 𦰩 component is abbreviated to 又.

Components

氵 Meaning component

shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

又 Simplified component

yòu again

Shorthand for the 𦰩 component in the traditional character 漢.

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

zú clan, tribe, race

Depicts a flag (㫃) representing a clan and an arrow (矢) representing their military power.

Components

㫃 Iconic component

yǎn flags flying

矢 Iconic component

shǐ arrow

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

簇镞蔟

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	dzuwk	[dz]ˤok	clan

說文解字

《說文》：“族，矢鋒也，束之族族也。从，从矢。”

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)

zhǔ master

Original meaning: deity

Pictograph of a memorial tablet used for spiritual rituals, similar to 示.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (3 of 11 verified)

住注驻柱蛀拄炷麈疰駐註

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tsyuX	toʔ	master; host

說文解字

《說文》：“主，鐙中火主也。从凵土，象形；从丶，丶亦聲。”

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)

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

hàn Chinese people Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 𦰩 represents the sound.

Components

氵 Meaning component

shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

𦰩 Sound component

jiān to sigh

Change in sound

漢 and 𦰩 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in older Chinese.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	xanH	n̥ˤar-s (W dialect: n̥- > MC x-, -r > *-n)	(river name)

說文解字

《說文》：“漢，漾也，東為滄浪水。从水，難省聲。，古文。”

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)

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).