斗鸡走马
dòu​jī​zǒu​mǎ

gambling

斗 dòu ladle Simplified

Pictograph of a ladle or dipper. In simplified Chinese 斗 is also used to mean "fight, struggle", while in traditional Chinese this meaning is written with a separate character 鬥.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Xin 9-23 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (2 of 8 verified)

科斜魁斟斛钭戽鈄

Sound (0 of 5 verified)

抖蚪钭鈄枓

Iconic (1)

料

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttuwXtˤoʔ bushel; ladle
tsyuXtoʔ ladle

說文解字

《說文》：“斗，十升也。象形，有柄。”

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)

鸡 jī chickens Simplified

Simplified from a variant form of the traditional character 雞.

Components

又
又 Simplified component
yòu again

Shorthand form of the 奚 component in the traditional character 雞.

鸟
鸟 Meaning component
niǎo bird

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

走 zǒu walk

Originally written as 夭, depicting a person swaying their arms (夭) while walking quickly. The foot component 止 was added later.

Components

夭
夭 Iconic component
yāo, wò, wāi die young

Depicts a person walking quickly.

止
止 Meaning component
zhǐ (foot), stop

Depicts a foot.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (8 of 20 verified)

起越超赶趣趋赴趁趟赳趄趔趑趱趨趕趦趙趯赸

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

陡

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttsuwX[ts]ˤoʔ run

說文解字

《說文》：“走，趨也。从夭、止，夭止者，屈也。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.108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)

马 mǎ horse Simplified

Simplified form of 馬. Pictograph of a horse.

Component uses

Meaning (6 of 57 verified)

验驻骑骗驱驶驾腾冯驳骤驰闯骚骄骇驴驼驯骆蓦骏羁骡驭驮驿驹骥骋驸骁骧骈骛骅骞骊骓骠驷骜驽驺骘骐骖骝骀骢驵骕骟骒骣骦𬴐

Sound (5 of 8 verified)

吗妈玛码骂蚂犸杩

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.741-742漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

鬥 fight Traditional

Pictograph of two people wrestling each other.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (2 of 4 verified)

鬧鬮鬩鬨

Sound (1)

鬭

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttuwHtˤok-s quarrel, wrangle

說文解字

《說文》：“鬥，兩士相對，兵杖在後，象鬥之形。”

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)

雞 jī chicken Traditional

Originally was a pictograph of a chicken. Later changed to a phonosemantic compound of 奚 and 隹 (bird).

Components

奚
奚 Sound component
xī where? what? how? why?
隹
隹 Meaning component
zhuī, cuī, wéi bird

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 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 Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkejkˤe fowl, chicken

說文解字

《說文》：“雞，知時畜也。从隹，奚聲。鷄，籀文雞从鳥。”

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)

馬 mǎ horse Traditional

Pictograph of a horse.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 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 Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
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 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

Component uses

Meaning (8 of 49 verified)

驗驚驩駮騾驅驀驟駕駝驌騙驊馮馳駛騎驎羈駐騁騫騷驢驦馴騰驕驥驛駁馭騶馱騭駟駑駒騖駢駱騅駿驪駭驤騮闖駙

Sound (5 of 6 verified)

碼螞罵嗎瑪媽

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmaeXmˤraʔ horse

說文解字

《說文》：“馬，怒也；武也。象馬頭髦尾四足之形。，古文。，籀文馬與同，有髦。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.741-742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)