Original meaning: to use, to control
Depicts a person (卩) using a pestle (午). 午 also represents the sound. The 辵 (walk) component was later added to emphasize action. Based on the original meaning, “to use, to control”. The meaning later shifted to “to govern”. In simplified Chinese 御 is also used to mean "to resist", while in traditional Chinese this meaning is written with a separate character 禦.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | ngjoX | m-[qʰ](r)aʔ | ward off; withstand |
| ngjoH | [ŋ](r)a-s | drive a chariot (loan) |
說文解字
《說文》：“御，使馬也。从彳，从卸。馭，古文御。从又，从馬。”
Sources
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Simplified
Original meaning: quiver
Originally depicted a quiver, a container for arrows. Later repurposed to mean "medicine" as a simplified form of the traditional character 醫.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Sound (1)
Historical Pronunciations
| Old Chinese | |
|---|---|
| Zhengzhang | qiːs |
說文解字
《說文》：“医，盛弓弩矢器也。从匸，从矢。”
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)
Traditional
Phonosemantic compound. 酉 represents the meaning and 殹 represents the sound. The 酉 component is a pictograph of a container for wine, which is sometimes used for medicinal purposes.
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Old Chinese | |
|---|---|
| Zhengzhang | qɯ |
說文解字
《說文》：“醫，治病工也。殹，惡姿也，醫之性然。得酒而使。从酉。王育說。一曰殹，病聲。酒，所以治病也。《周禮》有醫酒。古者巫彭初作醫。”
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)