奴儿干都司
Nú'ér​gān​dū​sī

Nurgan commandery

奴 nú slave

Depicts a hand (又) behind a woman (女) slave's back forcing her to work.

Components

女
女 SoundIconic component
nǚ, nü woman

Depicts a woman slave. Also serves as a phonetic component.

又
又 Iconic component
yòu hand

Depicts a hand forcing a slave to do work.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 10 verified)

拿努怒弩呶驽孥胬拏駑

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

帑

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartnunˤa slave

說文解字

《說文》：“奴，奴、婢，皆古之辠人也。《周禮》曰：‘其奴，男子入于辠隸，女子入于舂藁。’从女，从又。，古文奴，从人。”

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)

儿 r, ér child Simplified

Simplified form of 兒. Variant form of 人, a pictograph of a human.

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Simplified (1)

党

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

禿

說文解字

《說文》：“儿，仁人也。古文奇字人也。象形。孔子曰：在人下，故詰屈。”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

干 gàn, gān interfere

Pictograph of a type of hunting or military tool.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (6 of 22 verified)

赶岸刊汗肝奸杆罕轩旱竿鼾秆矸酐旰顸犴邗軒幹豻

Meaning (0 of 3 verified)

秆讦顸

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkan[k]ˤar pole
kankˤa[r] shield (n.)
kankˤar piece, item
kankˤar (placename)

說文解字

《說文》：“干，犯也。从反入，从一。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.146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)

都 dōu, dū metropolis

Phonosemantic compound. ⻏ represents the meaning and 者 represents the sound. Based on the meaning "large city, capital", which is the meaning when pronounced "dū". When pronounced "dōu", it has the unrelated meaning "all", etymologically related to 多 (many).

Components

者
者 Sound component
zhě one who...
Change in sound
⻏
⻏ Meaning component
yì city

⻏ is a component form of 邑.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Spring and Autumn ~600 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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 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 (0 of 1 verified)

嘟

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttutˤa capital city

說文解字

有先君之舊宗廟曰都。从邑者聲。周禮：距國五百里爲都。

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)

司 sī take charge of

Depicts using a scepter and a mouth (口) to command or take control of something.

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a scepter.

口
口 Iconic component
kǒu, kou mouth

Alludes to speaking to take control of something.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 8 verified)

词饲嗣伺祠笥詞飼

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsis-lə superintend

說文解字

《說文》：“司，臣司事於外者。从反后。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.709
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

兒 r, ér son Traditional

Pictograph of a child (人) with an opening in the top of its head (囟). Represents the soft spot (fontanel) at the top of young infant heads. The 囟 component is written like 臼.

Components

囟
囟 Iconic component
xìn fontanel

Depicts the gap between the bones in an infant skull.

人
人 Iconic component
rén, ren person

Depicts a human.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Spring and Autumn ~600 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 6 verified)

睨阋猊鲵鯢鬩

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

倪霓

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartnyeŋe child

說文解字

《說文》：“兒，孺子也。从儿，象小兒頭囟未合。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.687
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)