奴隶制度
nú​lì​zhì​dù

slavery

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)

隶 lì subservient Simplified

Original meaning: catch from behind

Depicts a hand (又) grabbing a tail (尾) from behind. Based on the original meaning "catch from behind", now written as 逮. In simplified Chinese 隶 is also used to mean "subservient", while in traditional Chinese this meaning is written with a separate character 隸.

Components

又
又 Iconic component
yòu hand
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 又 than it was in ancient scripts.
尾
尾 Iconic component
wěi tail

Derived from the pictographic form of 尾 (tail).

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

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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

逮棣埭

Meaning (2)

逮隸

Iconic (1)

肆

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdojHm-rˤəp-s reach to

說文解字

《說文》：“隶，及也。从又，从省。又持者，从後及之也。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.221-222
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

制 zhì control

Original meaning: break

Depicts cutting down a tree (未) with a knife (刂). Based on the original meaning "break". The meaning later shifted to "control".

Components

未
未 Iconic component
wèi not yet

Depicts a tree.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 未 than it was in ancient scripts.
刂
刂 Iconic component
dāo knife

刂 is a component form of 刀.


Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

掣製

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttsyejHtet-s cut out, prepare

說文解字

《說文》：“制，裁也。从刀，从未。未，物成，有滋味，可裁斷。一曰止也。，古文制如此。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.357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)

度 dù, du measure

Phonosemantic compound. 又 represents the meaning (using a hand to measure something) and 石 represents the sound.

Components

石
石 Sound component
shí stone
Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 石 than it was in ancient scripts.
又
又 Iconic component
yòu hand

Depicts a hand measuring something.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 (0 of 3 verified)

渡踱镀

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartduH[d]ˤak-s measure (n.)
dak[d]ˤak measure (v.)

說文解字

法制也。从又，庶省聲。

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)

隸 lì subservient Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 柰 represents the sound and 隶 represents the meaning.

Components

柰
柰 Sound component
nài crab-apple tree
Change in sound
隶
隶 Meaning component
lì subservient

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 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 Eastern Han 25-220 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-SagartlejH[r]ˤə[p]-s subordinate

說文解字

《說文》：“隸，附箸也。从隶，柰聲。，篆文隸从古文之體。”

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)