威妥玛拼法
Wēi Tuǒ​mǎ​pīn​fǎ

Wade-Giles system

威 wēi power

Depicts a weapon (戌) used to force a woman (女) into submission.

Components

戌
戌 Iconic component
xū, qu 11th terrestrial branch

Depicts an axe.

女
女 Iconic component
nǚ, nü woman

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

崴葳

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'jw+jʔuj awe-inspiring

說文解字

《說文》：“威，姑也。从女，从戌。《漢律》曰：‘婦告威姑。’”

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)

妥 tuǒ satisfactory

Depicts a hand (爫) calming a woman (女) down. The meaning later shifted to "adequate", "suitable", and "satisfactory".

Components

爫
爫 Iconic component
zhǎo hand, claw

爫 is a component form of 爪.

女
女 Iconic component
nǚ, nü woman

Character Evolution

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
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 6 verified)

绥馁荽餒綏浽

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartthwaXn̥ˤojʔ at ease

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫中華語文知識庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

玛 mǎ agate stone Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 玉 represents the meaning and 马 represents the sound. Simplified form of 瑪.

Components

𤣩
𤣩 Meaning component
yù jade
马
马 Sound component
mǎ horse

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

拼 pīn join together

Phonosemantic compound. 扌 represents the meaning and 并 represents the sound.

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

并
并 Sound component
bìng combine

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangpreːŋ

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

法 fǎ, fa law

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 去 represents the sound. Originally written as 灋.

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

Likely alludes to water always flowing in a given path, or water always being flat and level.

去
去 Sound component
qù go away
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpjop[p.k]ap model, law

說文解字

《說文》：“灋，刑也。平之如水，从水；廌，所以觸不直者，去之，从去。法，今文省。佱，古文。”

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)

瑪 agate stone Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 玉 represents the meaning and 馬 represents the sound.

Components

𤣩
𤣩 Meaning component
yù jade
馬
馬 Sound component
mǎ horse

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangmraːʔ
Unicodemǎ

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang