← Back to history 
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC 
Seal Xin 9-23 AD 
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD 
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC 
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD 
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD Regular Modern
Changed possible explanation
Changed fields: hint, customSources
Origin unclear. Possibly a pictograph of a side view of a person with a mark on their leg indicating the length of one foot.
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | tsyhek | tʰAk | foot (measure) |
說文解字
《說文》：“尺，十寸也。人手卻十分動脈為寸口。十寸為尺。尺，所以指尺榘事也。从尸，从乙，乙所識也。周制寸、尺、咫、尋、常、仞諸度量，皆以人之體為法。”
Sources
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)