Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | pjangX | paŋʔ | imitate |
| pjangH | paŋ-s | release; let go |
說文解字
《說文》：“放，逐也。从攴，方聲。”
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)
Original meaning: go forwards
Pictograph of a foot (止) going out of an area. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | tsyi | tə | go to |
| tsyi | tə | (3p object pronoun; attributive particle) |
說文解字
《說文》：“之，出也。象艸過屮，枝莖益大有所之。一者，地也。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.498-499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)
In ancient texts the character 亖 (four horizontal strokes) was used. The current form 四 depicts breathing through the nose and is the original form of 呬. The use of 四 as a number is a phonetic loan.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | sijH | s.li[j]-s | four |
說文解字
《說文》：“四，陰數也。象四分之形。，古文四。亖，籀文四。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.948
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Sound (1)
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | xojX | m̥ˤəʔ (dialect *m̥ˤ- > x-) | sea |
說文解字
《說文》：“海，天池也，以納百川者。从水，每聲。”
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)
Original meaning: beard
Originally a pictograph of a beard, now written as 耏. The current use as a conjunction is a phonetic loan.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | nyi | nə | and, but |
說文解字
《說文》：“而，頰毛也。象毛之形。《周禮》曰：‘作其鱗之而。’”
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)
Depicts people (从) moving and speaking (曰) together, conveying the meaning "all". (Oversimplified for brevity. The real story of this character is quite complicated.)
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | keaj | kˤrij | all |
說文解字
《說文》：“皆，俱詞也。从比，从白。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫李学勤《字源》p.289-290
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Simplified
Original meaning: water-level
Simplified form of 準. Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 隼 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "water-level", a tool to check the flatness of surfaces. The meaning later shifted to "accurate", "rule", and "approve".
Components
Shorthand for the 氵 (water) component in the traditional character 準.
Shorthand for the 隼 (sǔn) component in the traditional character 準.
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Old Chinese | |
|---|---|
| Zhengzhang | qʷjinʔ |
Sources
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Zhengzhang Shangfang
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
Traditional
Original meaning: water-level
Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 隼 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "water-level", a tool to check the flatness of surfaces. The meaning later shifted to "accurate", "rule", and "approve".
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | tsywinX | turʔ | water-level |
說文解字
《說文》：“準，平也。从水，隼聲。”
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)