Original meaning: wart
Pictograph of a hand with a wart on it. The original meaning "wart" is now written as 疣. The original meaning later expanded to "strange, bizarre" and "outstanding, special".
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | hjuw | [ɢ]ʷə | fault; even more |
說文解字
《說文》:“尤,異也。从乙,又聲。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.960
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Depicts harvesting grain (禾) with a blade (刂). Harvest was the main source of profit in agricultural societies.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | lijH | C.ri[t]-s | sharp; profit |
說文解字
《說文》:“利,銛也。从刀;和然後利,从和省。《易》曰:‘利者,義之和也。’”
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)
Original meaning: cut
Phonosemantic compound. 斤 represents the meaning and 其 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "cut". Nowadays this character is usually only used for its sound in phonetic loans.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | sje | [s]e | split (v.) |
| sje | [s]e | this | |
| sje | se | 斯須 a short time |
說文解字
《說文》:“斯,析也。从斤,其聲。《詩》曰:‘斧以斯之。’”
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)
Simplified
Components
Historical Pronunciations
Sources
- Character origin
- 李学勤《字源》p.430
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
Components
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | |
|---|---|---|
| Zhengzhang | saːd | |
| Unicode | sɑt |
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Zhengzhang Shangfang
Traditional
Pictograph of a crow. Similar to 鳥.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | 'u | [ʔ]ˤa | oh! |
| 'u | qˤa | crow, raven; black | |
| 'u | ʔˤa | 烏桓, 烏丸 Wūhuán: Avars (W. Hàn) |
說文解字
《說文》:“烏,孝鳥也。象形。孔子曰:‘烏,呼也。’取其助气,故以為烏呼。,古文烏,象形。於,象古文烏省。”
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)
Traditional
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | khojX | C.qʰˤəjʔ | pleasant |
Sources
- Character origin
- 李学勤《字源》p.430
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica