xù​liè

sequence

order, sequence

Original meaning: walls at side of palace

Phonosemantic compound. 广 represents the meaning and represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "walls at side of palace". The meaning later shifted to "order" and "sequence".

Components

广
广 Meaning component
guǎng roof
Change in meaning
广 hints at the original meaning of , "walls at side of palace", which is no longer the most common meaning of in modern Mandarin.
Sound component
give

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartzjoX[sə.l]aʔ walls at side of palace

說文解字

《說文》:“序,東西牆也。从广,予聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

liè arrange

Original meaning: break apart

depicts a wooden post with a cracked bottom and depicts a knife. Both used to convey the original meaning "break apart". also represents the sound. The meaning later shifted to "arrange in order" and "list".

Components

SoundIconic component
dǎi, è, dāi evil, bad

Depicts a wooden post with a cracked bottom.

Change in sound
Iconic component
dāo knife

is a component form of .


Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Jin 266-420 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 7 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartljet[r][e]t tear apart; rank

說文解字

《說文》:“列,分解也。从刀,聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.355
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica