zì​sì

bold style

indulge oneself

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
xīn, xin heart
Sound component
second, next

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttsijHtsi[t]-sunrestrained, license
Zhengzhangʔslis
Unicodetzì

說文解字

縱也。从心次聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

sì, tì indulge

Original meaning: kill domestic animals and display them

Depicts a hand restraining a domestic animal () by holding its tail (). also represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "kill domestic animals and display them". The meaning later shifted to "shop", "wanton", "unrestrained", and "indulge".

Components

SoundIconic component
a kind of beast with long hair

Depicts a wild animal. Modern form looks like .

Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.
Iconic component
subservient

Depicts a hand () grabbing a tail (). Modern form looks like .


Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsijHs-ləp-s unrestrained

說文解字

《說文》:“,極陳也。从長,隶聲。,或从髟。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.216漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica