Original meaning: spearhead
Pictograph of a pointed spearhead. The distinguishing mark 口 was added later. Based on the original meaning "spearhead", now written as 𥎆. The meaning later shifted to "harm" and "injure".
Components
口 Distinguishing component
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | hajH | N-kˤat-s | be hurt (v.i.); injury (n.) |
| hajH | m-kˤat-s | hurt (v.t.) |
說文解字
《說文》：“害，傷也。从宀，从口。宀、口，言从家起也。丰聲。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫何琳儀《戰國古文字典：戰國文字聲系》p.898林志強《《文源》評注》p.520
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Simplified
Original meaning: to hunt
Depicts using a hunting tool (單) and a dog (犬) to hunt for and capture wild animals. Original form of 狩. 口 was later added as a distinguishing mark. The meaning later shifted to "beast". The traditional component 犬 was deleted for simplification.
Components
單 IconicSimplified component
口 Distinguishing component
Traditional
Original meaning: to hunt
Depicts using a hunting tool (單) and a dog (犬) to hunt for and capture wild animals. Original form of 狩. 口 was later added as a distinguishing mark. The meaning later shifted to "beast".
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | syuwH | s.tʰu(ʔ)-s | (wild) animal |
說文解字
《說文》：“獸，守備者。从嘼，从犬。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫李学勤《字源》p.1270劉志基《中國漢字文物大系》Vol. 14, p.393何琳儀《戰國古文字典：戰國文字聲系》p.218
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)