太平广记
Tài​píng Guǎng​jì

Taiping Guangji

太 tài, tai very

Addition of a dot to 大 (dà; big) to mean "very" or "extremely".

Components

大
大 SoundMeaning component
dà, dài big
Change in sound
丶
丶 Distinguishing component
zhǔ dot

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 7 verified)

态汰钛肽呔酞鈦

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartthajHl̥ˤa[t]-s great

說文解字

《說文》：“泰，滑也。从廾，从水，大聲。夳，古文泰。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.800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)

平 píng flat

Original meaning: to strike

Depicts using a staff (丂) for striking. Based on the original meaning "to strike", now written as 抨. The meaning later shifted to "level", "even", and "flat".

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts the moving motion of striking.

丂
丂 Iconic component
kǎo, qiǎo, yú axe handle

Depicts a staff.

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

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (5 of 11 verified)

评苹坪砰抨怦鲆枰評泙鮃

Meaning (1 of 3 verified)

坪秤枰

Iconic (1)

抨

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartbjien[b]en distinguish; punctiious
bjaengbreŋ even (adj.)
bjaengm-breŋ make even

說文解字

《說文》：“平，語平舒也。从亏，从八。八，分也。”

Sources

Character origin
王森《甲骨文、金文所谓“乎”字当释为“平”字》
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

广 guǎng roof Simplified

Variant form of 宀 (roof). In simplified Chinese 广 is also used to mean "wide", while in traditional Chinese this meaning is written with a separate character 廣. Sometimes used interchangeably with 厂.

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (29 of 54 verified)

府底座序庭庄店扩库废廉庞斥庙廊厨旷庇廖廓庐庵庖庑庋庠庾庥廪廛庀庹廨廑庳廒㢆廣廡廈廟廠廝㡿廬庫廂廁廥廚廢廩龐廳

Sound (1 of 7 verified)

扩矿旷犷邝圹纩

Simplified (2)

庆厨

Unknown (0 of 2 verified)

庸廄

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

《說文》：“广，因广為屋，象對刺高屋之形。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

记 jì, ji record Simplified

Simplified form of 記. Phonosemantic compound. 言 represents the meaning and 己 represents the sound.

Components

讠
讠 Meaning component
yán speech

讠 is a component form of 言.

己
己 Sound component
jǐ self

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

廣 guǎng wide Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 广 represents the meaning and 黃 represents the sound.

Components

广
广 Meaning component
guǎng roof
黃
黃 Sound component
huáng yellow

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Jin 266-420 AD
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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 5 verified)

礦擴曠爌獷

Meaning (1 of 2 verified)

擴曠

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkwangXkʷˤaŋʔ wide
kwangHkʷˤaŋʔ-s distance from east to west

說文解字

《說文》：“廣，殿之大屋也。从广，黄聲。”

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)

記 jì, ji record Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 言 represents the meaning and 己 represents the sound.

Components

言
言 Meaning component
yán speech
己
己 Sound component
jǐ self

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
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-SagartkiHC.k(r)ə(ʔ)-s remember; record (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“記，疏也。从言，己聲。”

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)