Phonosemantic compound. 扌 represents the meaning and 叟 represents the sound. Originally written as 叟.
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | srjuw | sru | search |
說文解字
《說文》：“，眾意也。一曰求也。从手，叜聲。”
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)
Simplified
Pictograph of two hands (廾) twisting together a long rope (糸). The meaning later expanded to "search" and "demand".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Sound (0 of 1 verified)
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | sak | [s]ˤak | twist a rope |
| sak | [s]ˤak | search (v.) |
說文解字
《說文》：“索，艸有莖葉可作繩索。从糸。杜林說：，亦朱字。”
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)
Traditional
Original meaning: measure of length
Pictograph of two outstretched arms measuring length using a ruler. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | zim | sə-l[ə]m (< *-um ?) | warm up |
| zim | sə-l[ə]m | measure of 8 chǐ 尺 |
說文解字
《說文》：“尋，繹理也。从工，从口，从又，从寸。工、口，亂也；又、寸，分理之。彡聲。此與同意。度人之兩臂為尋，八尺也。”
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)