天公地道 Origin — Chinese Character Wiki

tiān, tian sky

Original meaning: head

Depicts a person (大) with an emphasized head. Based on the original meaning "head". The meaning later shifted to "top", "high", and "sky".

Components

◎ Iconic component

characterless component

Depicts a head.

大 Iconic component

dà, dài big

Depicts a person.

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC

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

Clerical form — Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	then	l̥ˤi[n]	heaven
	xen	l̥ˤi[n] (W dialect: l̥ˤ- > Hàn-time *xˤ- > MC x-)	heaven

說文解字

《說文》：“天，顛也。至高无上，从一、大。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.40-41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)

gōng public

Original meaning: earthen jar

Pictograph of a earthen jar for holding liquid, now written as 瓮. The current meaning "public" is a phonetic loan.

Components

八 Iconic component

bā eight

Depicts handles of a jar.

口 Iconic component

kǒu, kou mouth

Depicts the opening of a jar.

Change in form

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 口 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (5 of 14 verified)

容松讼翁颂瓮蚣衮忪袞頌訟鈆彸

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kuwng	C.qˤoŋ	impartial, just; public
	kuwng	C.qˤoŋ	father; prince

說文解字

《說文》：“公，平分也。从八、从厶。八，猶背也。韓非曰：‘背厶為公’。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.86-87
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

de, dì earth

Phonosemantic compound. 土 represents the meaning and 也 represents the sound.

Components

土 Meaning component

tǔ earth

也 Sound component

yě also

Change in sound

地 and 也 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
地 *[l]ˤej-s
也 *lAjʔ

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	dijH	[l]ˤej-s	earth, ground

說文解字

《說文》：“地，元气初分，輕、清、陽為天；重、濁、陰為地。萬物所陳列也。从土，也聲。墬，籀文地从。”

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)

dào, dao path

Phonosemantic compound. 辶 represents the meaning and 首 represents the sound.

Components

辶 Meaning component

chuò walk

辶 is a component form of 辵.

首 Sound component

shǒu head

Change in sound

道 and 首 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
道 *lˤuʔ-s
首 *l̥uʔ-s

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1)

導

Meaning (1)

導

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	dawH	lˤuʔ-s	show the way
	dawX	[kə.l]ˤuʔ	way

說文解字

所行道也。从辵从𩠐。一達謂之道。

Sources

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

天 tiān, tian sky

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (1 of 4 verified)

Iconic (1)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

公 gōng public

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (5 of 14 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

地 de, dì earth

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

道 dào, dao path

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (1)

Meaning (1)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

tiān, tian sky

gōng public

de, dì earth

dào, dao path