德才兼备 Origin — Chinese Character Wiki

Chinese Character Wiki Wiki

décáijiānbèi

virtuous and talented

dé virtue

Originally written as 惪, depicting a straight (直) heart (心). The 彳 (walk) component was added later.

Components

彳 Meaning component

chì, fú walk

彳 is a component form of 行.

惪 Sound Meaning component

dé virtue

Original form of 德.

Character Evolution

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 Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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 Qin 221-206 BC

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 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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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tok	tˤək	virtue

說文解字

《說文》：“德，升也。从彳，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)

cái, cai talent

Original meaning: wooden post

Originally a pictograph of a wooden post, similar to 弋. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

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 Late Shang ~1100 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC

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

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

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

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (8)

在存财材豺財𢦏𢦔

Simplified (1)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	dzoj	[dz]ˤə	talent, ability

說文解字

《說文》：“才，艸木之初也。从丨上貫一，將生枝葉。一，地也。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.495-496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)

jiān double

Depicts a hand (又) holding two stalks of grain (禾).

Components

禾 Iconic component

hé grain stalk

Change in form

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

禾 Iconic component

hé grain stalk

Change in form

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

又 Iconic component

yòu hand

Depicts a hand.

Change in form

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

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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 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 (6 of 13 verified)

廉嫌歉赚谦慊缣鹣蒹搛賺謙鶼

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kem	[k]ˤem	combine; at the same time

說文解字

《說文》：“兼，并也。从又持秝。兼，持二禾。秉，持一禾。”

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫裘錫圭 "Chinese Writing" p.188
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

bèi prepare Simplified

Simplified form of 備. Depicts preparing a container for arrows to equip oneself for battle.

Components

◎ Iconic component

characterless component

Depicts two arrows.

◎ Iconic component

characterless component

Depicts a container for holding arrows.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Simplified (0 of 1 verified)

Sources

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

bèi prepare Traditional

Depicts a person (亻) preparing a container for arrows to equip himself for battle.

Components

亻 Iconic component

rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

◎ Iconic component

characterless component

Depicts two arrows.

◎ Iconic component

characterless component

Depicts a container for holding arrows.

Character Evolution

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC

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

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

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	bijH	[b]rək-s	complete (adj.)

說文解字

《說文》：“備，慎也。从人，聲。，古文備。”

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)