或
huò HSK2

or

← Back to history
approved by Peter Olson · Oct 29, 2020, 08:39 AM · Reviewed by Peter Olson on Oct 29, 2020, 08:39 AM

verify, add source

Changed fields: hint, originalMeaning, isVerified, components, customSources, strokeDataSimp, fragmentsSimp, historicalImages

Original meaning: area, city

Origin unclear. Based on the original meaning "area, city", now written as 城.

Components

囗
囗 Iconic component

Depicts an area of land.

Change in meaning
囗 hints at the original meaning of 或, "area, city", which is no longer the most common meaning of 或 in modern Mandarin.
必
必 Unknown component

The purpose of this component is unclear. Depicts a weapon. Similar to 戈.

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

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~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 Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Spring and Autumn ~600 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 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthwok[ɢ]ʷˤək some; or
hwik[ɢ]ʷrək territory

說文解字

《說文》：“或，邦也。从囗，从戈以守一。一，地也。域，或又从土。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.864
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)