Origin unclear. Possibly a pictograph of a silk rope, in which case would be the original form of 紀.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | kiX | k(r)əʔ | 6th heavenly stem |
| kiX | k(r)əʔ | self |
說文解字
《說文》：“己，中宮也，象萬物辟藏詘形也。己承戊，象人腹，，古文己。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.964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: cutting edge
Depicts the cutting edge (一) of a knife blade (刀). Similar in origin to 亡. Based on the original meaning "cutting edge". The meaning later expanded to "perimeter", "area", and "square".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | pjang | C-paŋ | square |
| pjang | paŋ | method | |
| pjang | paŋ | just, then |
說文解字
《說文》：“方，併船也。象兩舟省緫頭形。汸，方或从水。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.685-686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)