zhí

to gather

Original meaning: wooden stake

Depicts a wooden stake sticking in the ground.

Components

Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a wooden stake sticking in the ground. The modern form looks the same as , but is not originally related.

Meaning component
spear

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (4 of 6 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsyiktək adhere (?)

說文解字

《說文》:“戠,闕。从戈,从音。”

Sources

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

zhǐ, zhī only Simplified

Origin unclear. In simplified Chinese, in addition to the meaning "only", is also used as a measure word. In traditional Chinese this meaning is written as .

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (4 of 9 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangklje
kljeʔ
Unicodejǐɛ

說文解字

《說文》:“只,語已詞也。从口,象氣下引之形。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.149-150
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica