Original meaning: leisure; carefree
Depicts a person with their hair loose. Based on the original meaning "leisure; carefree", now written as 佚. The meaning later shifted to "lose" and "fail".
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | syit | l̥i[t] | lose |
說文解字
《說文》：“失，縱也。从手，乙聲。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 何景成《甲骨文字詁林補編》p.26黃德寬《古文字譜系疏證》p.3349
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Origin unclear. The bottom component 止 represents the sound.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | dzyeX | [d]eʔ | this |
說文解字
《說文》：“是，直也。从日、正。昰，籀文是，从古文正。”
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)
Original meaning: city
Depicts defending city walls (丁) with an axe (戌). 丁 also represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "city", now written as 城. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Components
Depicts city walls.
Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 丁 than it was in ancient scripts.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | dzyeng | [d]eŋ | to become (v.i.) |
| dzyeng | m-[d]eŋ | to complete (tr. v) |
說文解字
《說文》：“成，就也。从戊，丁聲。，古文成从午。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.963-964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)
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | kuwng | kˤoŋ | work, effort |
說文解字
《說文》：“功，以勞定國也。从力，从工，工亦聲。”
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)
Original meaning: go forwards
Pictograph of a foot (止) going out of an area. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | tsyi | tə | go to |
| tsyi | tə | (3p object pronoun; attributive particle) |
說文解字
《說文》：“之，出也。象艸過屮，枝莖益大有所之。一者，地也。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.498-499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)
Pictograph of a woman kneeling, with two dots representing the two nipples that mothers use to feed their young.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | muwX | məʔ (? or *mˤoʔ) | mother |
說文解字
《說文》：“母，牧也。从女，象褱子形。一曰象乳子也。”
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)
Traditional
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | baejH | N-pˤra[t]-s | suffer defeat |
| paejH | pˤra[t]-s | defeat (v.t.) |
說文解字
《說文》：“敗，毁也。从攴、貝。敗賊皆从貝，會意。贁，籀文敗，从賏。”
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)