大肆攻击
dà​sì​gōng​jī

vilify

大 dà, dài big

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

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

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

Iconic (21)

天因美夫央亦乘衡牵熊夹爽奚鬱粦耎夨叕夾椉業

Sound (6 of 11 verified)

太达夺泰驮耷奪馱忕羍旲

Simplified (4)

类奖奋庆

Unknown (0 of 2 verified)

爨䙴

Deleted (1)

业

Remnant (1)

椉

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdaHlˤat-s (MC F!)big
dajHlˤa[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)

肆 sì, tì indulge

Original meaning: kill domestic animals and display them

Depicts a hand restraining a domestic animal (㣇) by holding its tail (隶). 㣇 also represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "kill domestic animals and display them". The meaning later shifted to "shop", "wanton", "unrestrained", and "indulge".

Components

㣇
㣇 SoundIconic component
yì a kind of beast with long hair

Depicts a wild animal. Modern form looks like 镸.

Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 㣇 than it was in ancient scripts.
隶
隶 Iconic component
lì subservient

Depicts a hand (又) grabbing a tail (尾). Modern form looks like 聿.


Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsijHs-ləp-s unrestrained

說文解字

《說文》：“，極陳也。从長，隶聲。，或从髟。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.216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)

攻 gōng attack

Phonosemantic compound. 攵 represents the meaning and 工 represents the sound.

Components

工
工 Sound component
gōng work
攵
攵 Meaning component
pū tap

攵 is a component form of 攴.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkuwngkˤoŋ attack

說文解字

《說文》：“攻，擊也。从攴，工聲。”

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)

击 jī strike Simplified

Simplified form of 擊. Based on the cursive form of the phonetic component 毄.

Components

毄
毄 SoundSimplifiedRemnant component
to hit against
擊
手 Deleted component
shǒu, shou hand

This component was deleted for simplification.

Component uses

Simplified (1)

陆

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

擊 jī strike Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 毄 represents the sound and 手 represents the meaning.

Components

毄
毄 SoundMeaning component
to hit against
手
手 Meaning component
shǒu, shou hand

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkekkˤik strike (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“擊，攴也。从手，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)