委派
wěi​pài

appoint

委 wěi bent, winding

Depicts grain (禾) in a bent shape (𠃊).

Components

禾
禾 Iconic component
hé grain stalk
𠃊
𠃊 Iconic component
yǐn hidden area

Used here to depict a bent shape. Modern form looks like 女.

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

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 8 verified)

魏矮萎倭诿痿逶諉

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'jweq(r)oj 委蛇 compliant, complaisant
'jweXq(r)ojʔ entrust to
'jweXq(r)ojʔ collect; store
'jweXq(r)orʔ bend; hang down

說文解字

《說文》：“委，委隨也。从女，从禾。”

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)

派 pài school of thought, faction

Depicts the water (氵) in a river flowing into different branches (𠂢). The meaning later expanded to "faction", "school of thought", and "style".

Components

氵
氵 Iconic component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

𠂢
𠂢 SoundIconic component
pài river branching

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

蒎

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangm̥ʰreːɡs
Unicodepɛ̀i

說文解字

《說文》：“派，別水也。从水，从，亦聲。”

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)