头痛医头
tóu​tòng​yī​tóu

reactive

头 tóu, tou head Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 頁 represents the meaning and 豆 represents the sound. The simplified character 头 was adapted from the cursive form of the traditional character 頭.

Components

豆
豆 SoundSimplified component
dòu bean
頁
頁 IconicSimplified component
yè (head), page

Depicts a head on top of a person.

Component uses

Simplified (2)

实买

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

痛 tòng pain

Phonosemantic compound. 疒 represents the meaning and 甬 represents the sound.

Components

疒
疒 Meaning component
nè sick
甬
甬 Sound component
yǒng, tǒng, dòng path

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
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 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-SagartthuwngHl̥ˤoŋ-s to be pained

說文解字

《說文》：“痛，病也。从疒，甬聲。”

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)

医 yī medicine Simplified

Original meaning: quiver

Originally depicted a quiver, a container for arrows. Later repurposed to mean "medicine" as a simplified form of the traditional character 醫.

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a quiver of arrows.

矢
矢 Iconic component
shǐ arrow

Depicts an arrow.


Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1)

殹

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangqiːs

說文解字

《說文》：“医，盛弓弩矢器也。从匸，从矢。”

Sources

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

頭 tóu, tou head Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 頁 represents the meaning and 豆 represents the sound.

Components

頁
頁 Iconic component
yè (head), page

Depicts a head on top of a person.

豆
豆 Sound component
dòu bean

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Wu) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartduw[m-t]ˤo head

說文解字

《說文》：“頭，首也。从頁，豆聲。”

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)

醫 yī medicine Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 酉 represents the meaning and 殹 represents the sound. The 酉 component is a pictograph of a container for wine, which is sometimes used for medicinal purposes.

Components

殹
殹 Sound component
yì an echo
酉
酉 Meaning component
yǒu wine

Character Evolution

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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangqɯ

說文解字

《說文》：“醫，治病工也。殹，惡姿也，醫之性然。得酒而使。从酉。王育說。一曰殹，病聲。酒，所以治病也。《周禮》有醫酒。古者巫彭初作醫。”

Sources

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