我也是醉了
wǒ​yě​shì​zuì​le

speechless

我 wǒ I; me

Original meaning: weapon

Pictograph of a weapon with a forked blade and long handle. The meaning "I; me" is a phonetic loan.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (6 of 15 verified)

义俄饿哦鹅娥峨蛾硪莪義锇餓鵝皒

Simplified (1)

义

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartngaXŋˤajʔ we, I

說文解字

《說文》：“我，施身自謂也。或說我，頃頓也。从戈，从。，或說古垂字。一曰古殺字。，古文我。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.867
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

也 yě also

Original meaning: cry

Depicts a child opening its mouth to cry. Original form of 嗁. The modern meaning is a phonetic loan.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 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 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (5 of 12 verified)

他地她施池驰弛迤沲馳酏㐌

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

拖

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartyaeXlAjʔ (final particle)

說文解字

《說文》：“也，女陰也。象形。，秦刻石也字。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.859
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

是 shì, shi is

Origin unclear. The bottom component 止 represents the sound.

Components

旦
旦 Unknown component
dàn dawn

The purpose of this component is unclear.

止
止 Sound component
zhǐ (foot), stop

Character Evolution

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 Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Spring and Autumn ~600 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Qin 221-206 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 Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
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

Component uses

Sound (6 of 13 verified)

提题堤匙題缇醍鞮鳀隄緹鯷踶

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

韪韙

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdzyeX[d]eʔ this

說文解字

《說文》：“是，直也。从日、正。昰，籀文是，从古文正。”

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)

醉 zuì intoxicated

Phonosemantic compound. 酉 represents the meaning and 卒 represents the sound.

Components

酉
酉 Meaning component
yǒu wine
卒
卒 Sound component
zú, cù, cuì soldier, to finish

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttswijHCə.tsu[t]-sdrunk (adj.)
Zhengzhangʔsuds
Unicodetzuì

說文解字

卒也。卒其度量，不至於亂也。一曰潰也。从酉从卒。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

了 le, liǎo, liào finish

Original meaning: armless child

Pictograph of a young child, similar to 子, but without arms. Compare to 孑 (child only with right arm) and 孓 (child only with left arm). The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

子
子 IconicRemnant component
zi, zǐ child

A child (子) without arms.


Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Jin 266-420 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

疗辽钌

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangreːwʔ
Unicodeleǔ
leǔ

說文解字

《說文》：“了，尦也。从子無臂，象形。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.972
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)