弃恶从善 Origin — Chinese Character Wiki

Chinese Character Wiki Wiki

qì'ècóngshàn

reform

qì abandon Simplified

Simplified form of 棄. Pictograph of two hands (廾) putting a child (𠫓) in a basket (其) for the purpose of abandoning or disposing with it. The traditional component 其 was removed for simplification.

Components

𠫓 Iconic component

tū, yù newborn

Upside-down form of 子 (child).

其 Deleted component

qí its, his, (3p possessive)

The traditional component 其 depicting a basket was removed for simplification.

廾 Iconic component

gǒng two hands

Character Evolution

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	khjijH	[kʰ]i[t]-s	throw away, abandon

說文解字

《說文》：“棄，捐也。从廾推棄之，从，，逆子也。弃，古文棄。”

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)

è, wù evil Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 心 represents the meaning and 亚 represents the sound. Simplified form of 惡.

Components

亚 Sound component

yà Asia, sub-

Change in sound

恶 and 亚 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
恶 *ʔˤak-s
亚 *ʔˤrak-s

心 Meaning component

xīn, xin heart

Component uses

Sound (1)

Meaning (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode

cóng, cōng from Simplified

Pictograph of one person following another.

Components

人 Iconic component

rén, ren person

人 Iconic component

rén, ren person

Character Evolution

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Seal form — Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1 of 7 verified)

纵丛耸怂枞苁疭

Iconic (6)

旅皆佥㦰從僉

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Simplified (1)

Historical Pronunciations

	Old Chinese
Zhengzhang	zloŋ

說文解字

《說文》：“从，相聽也。从二人。”

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

shàn good

Composed of two 言 (speech) components and 羊 (sheep). In ancient China sheep (羊) were associated with goodness and beauty, which is why 羊 is a component in characters like 美 (beautiful), 善 (benevolent), and 義 (justice).

Components

羊 Meaning component

yáng sheep

言 Sound component

yán speech

Change in sound

善 and 言 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
善 *[g]e[n]ʔ
言 *ŋa[n]

Change in form

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 言 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Qin 221-206 BC

Clerical form — Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 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

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 7 verified)

膳缮蟮鳝鄯繕鱔

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	dzyenX	[g]e[n]ʔ	good

說文解字

《說文》：“譱，吉也。从誩，从羊。此與義、美同意。，篆文从言。”

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)

qì abandon Traditional

Pictograph of two hands (廾) putting a child (𠫓) in a basket (其) for the purpose of abandoning or disposing with it.

Components

𠫓 Iconic component

tū, yù newborn

Upside-down form of 子 (child).

其 Iconic component

qí its, his, (3p possessive)

Depicts a basket.

Change in form

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 其 than it was in ancient scripts.

廾 Iconic component

gǒng two hands

Change in form

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 廾 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	khjijH	[kʰ]i[t]-s	throw away, abandon

說文解字

《說文》：“棄，捐也。从廾推棄之，从，，逆子也。弃，古文棄。”

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)

è, wù evil Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 心 represents the meaning and 亞 represents the sound.

Components

亞 Sound component

yà Asia, sub-

Change in sound

惡 and 亞 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
惡 *ʔˤak-s
亞 *ʔˤrak-s

心 Meaning component

xīn, xin heart

Character Evolution

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC

Clerical form — Clerical Qin 221-206 BC

Clerical form — Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 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

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1)

Meaning (1)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	'ak	ʔˤak	bad, ugly
	'uH	ʔˤak-s	hate (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“惡，過也。从心，亞聲。”

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)

cóng, cōng from Traditional

Originally written as 从, which depicts one person following another. Later 辵 was added to indicate movement.

Components

辵 Meaning component

chuò walk

从 Iconic component

cóng, cōng from

Depicts one person following another.

Character Evolution

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Seal form — Seal Qin 221-206 BC

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Qin 221-206 BC

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

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1 of 6 verified)

縱蹤慫瘲樅聳

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	dzjowng	[dz]oŋ	to follow
	tsjowng	tsoŋ	longitudinal
	dzjowngH	[dz]oŋ-s	follower

說文解字

《說文》：“從，隨行也。从辵，从从，从亦聲。”

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)