彘
zhì

swine

Original meaning: wild boar

Depicts a pig or a wild boar being shot by an arrow (矢). Wild boars were common targets for hunting. 矢 also represents the sound.

Components

豕
豕 Iconic component
shǐ pig

Depicts a pig or a wild boar. Modern form looks like unrelated 彑 and 比.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 豕 than it was in ancient scripts.
矢
矢 SoundIconic component
shǐ arrow

Depicts an arrow.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdrjejH[l]r[a][t]-s pig

說文解字

《說文》：“彘，豕也，後蹏廢謂之彘。从彑，矢聲，从二匕。彘足與鹿足同。”

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)