奴隶社会 Origin — Chinese Character Wiki

nú slave

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

Components

女 Sound Iconic component

nǚ, nü woman

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

又 Iconic component

yòu hand

Depicts a hand forcing a slave to do work.

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Regular Modern

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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 Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	nu	nˤa	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)

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 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 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

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	dojH	m-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)

shè society

Original meaning: god of soil

Originally depicted a god (礻) of the soil (土). The meaning later shifted to "shrine", "congregation", and "society".

Components

礻 Meaning component

shì show

礻 is a component form of 示.

土 Sound Meaning component

tǔ earth

Change in sound

社 and 土 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
社 *m-tʰAʔ
土 *tʰˤaʔ

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	dzyaeX	m-tʰAʔ	sacrifice to the spirit of the soil

說文解字

《說文》：“社，地主也。从示、土。《春秋傳》曰：‘共工之子句龍為社神。’《周禮》：‘二十五家為社，各樹其土所宜之木。’，古文社。”

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)

huì, kuài to gather Simplified

Simplified form of 會. Phonosemantic compound. 合 represents the meaning and 𡆧 represents the sound.

Components

合 Meaning Simplified component

hé to join

𡆧 Sound Simplified component

guó ironware

Change in sound

会 and 𡆧 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in older Chinese.

Component uses

Sound (1 of 12 verified)

绘刽荟桧烩脍狯哙浍鲙郐𬭇

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

侩

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.442
Readings & variants: Unicode

lì subservient Traditional

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

Components

柰 Sound component

nài crab-apple tree

Change in sound

隸 and 柰 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
隸 *[r]ˤə[p]-s
柰 naːds

隶 Meaning component

lì subservient

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	lejH	[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)

huì, kuài to gather Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 合 represents the meaning and 𡆧 represents the sound.

Components

合 Meaning component

hé to join

Change in form

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

𡆧 Sound component

guó ironware

Change in sound

會 and 𡆧 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in older Chinese.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (2 of 11 verified)

劊癐噲膾廥檜燴繪𨭗薈鱠

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

儈廥

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	hwajH	m-kˤop-s	meeting; have a meeting
	hwajH	ɦʷˤajs (< *m-kˤop-s)	阿會亘 ēhuìxuān: Skt. ābhāsvara ‘shining’ (E. Hàn)
	kwajH	kˤop-s	calculate; calculation

說文解字

《說文》：“會，合也。从亼，从曾省。曾，益也。令，古文會如此。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.442
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

奴 nú slave

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (3 of 10 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

隶 lì subservient Simplified

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

Meaning (2)

Iconic (1)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

社 shè society

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

会 huì, kuài to gather Simplified

Components

Component uses

Sound (1 of 12 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Sources

隸 lì subservient Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

會 huì, kuài to gather Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (2 of 11 verified)

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

nú slave

lì subservient Simplified

shè society

huì, kuài to gather Simplified

lì subservient Traditional

huì, kuài to gather Traditional