悬梁刺股
xuán​liáng​cì​gǔ

study assiduously

悬 xuán hang Simplified

Components

县
县 SoundIconic component
xiàn county

Pictograph of a severed head (首) hanging on a rope (系) from a tree (木).

心
心 Meaning component
xīn, xin heart

Sources

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

梁 liáng, liang bridge Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 氵and 木 represent the meaning and 刅 represents the sound.

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water
刅
刅 Sound component
chuāng to create
木
木 Meaning component
mù tree

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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 Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Xin 9-23 AD
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

粱墚樑

Remnant (0 of 1 verified)

粱

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

樑

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartljangraŋ beam; bridge

說文解字

《說文》：“梁，水橋也。从木，从水，刅聲。渿，古文。”

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)

刺 cì stab

Phonosemantic compound. 刂 represents the meaning and 朿 represents the sound.

Components

朿
朿 SoundIconic component
cì thorn, stab

Pictograph of a thorned weapon or plant.

刂
刂 Meaning component
dāo knife

刂 is a component form of 刀.

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

莿

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

莿

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttshjeH[tsʰ]ek-s sharp point, thorn
tshjek[tsʰ]ek pierce, stab

說文解字

《說文》：“刺，君殺大夫曰刺。刺，直傷也。从刀，从朿，朿亦聲。”

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)

股 gǔ, gu thighs

Originally written as 夃, depicting a person with a marker indicating the location of the thigh. Later the ⺼ component was added.

Components

⺼
⺼ Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh

⺼ is a component form of 肉.

夃
夃 SoundMeaning component
gū, yíng thigh

Modern form looks like 殳.

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

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkuXkʷˤaʔ thigh

說文解字

《說文》：“股，髀也。从肉，殳聲。”

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)

懸 xuán hang Traditional

Components

縣
縣 SoundIconic component
xiàn county

Pictograph of a severed head (首) hanging on a rope (系) from a tree (木).

心
心 Meaning component
xīn, xin heart

Character Evolution

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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarthwenN-kʷˤe[n] (error in B&S 2014, should be *Cə.[g]ʷˤe[n] to account for Mǐn)suspend

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

樑 liáng bridge Traditional

A wooden 木 beam 梁; 梁 also provides the pronunciation

Components

木
木 Meaning component
mù tree
梁
梁 SoundMeaning component
liáng, liang bridge

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartljangraŋbeam; bridge
Zhengzhangraŋ

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang