持械
chí​xiè

armed

持 chí sustain

Phonosemantic compound. 扌 represents the meaning and 寺 represents the sound.

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

寺
寺 Sound component
sì, shì temple

Character Evolution

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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdri[d]rə grasp, hold

說文解字

《說文》：“持，握也。从手，寺聲。”

Sources

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

械 xiè weapons

Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 戒 represents the sound.

Components

木
木 Meaning component
mù tree
戒
戒 Sound component
jiè warn

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarthɛjH[m-k]ˤrək-sfetters; weapon
Zhengzhangɡrɯːɡs

說文解字

桎梏也。从木戒聲。一曰器之緫名。一曰持也。一曰有盛爲械，無盛爲器。

Sources

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