Simplified
Pictograph of a person (元) wearing a hat (冃). 元 also represents the sound. The 寸 (hand) component was added later to possibly indicate the hat is being held and put onto the head.
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | kwan | [k.ʔ]ˤor | cap (n.) |
| kwanH | k.ʔˤor-s | cap (v.) |
說文解字
《說文》：“冠，絭也。所以絭髮，弁冕之總名也。从冖，从元，元亦聲。冠有法制，从寸。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.612
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Traditional
Depicts a hand (寸) snatching a bird (隹). The top component was originally 衣 (clothes), depicting a person holding a bird in their clothes, but later it was reanalyzed as a phonetic component, written as either 兌 or 大.
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | dwat | Cə.lˤot | seize |
說文解字
《說文》：“，手持隹失之也。从又，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)