断子绝孙
duàn​zǐ​jué​sūn

childless

断 duàn sever Simplified

Simplified form of 斷. Depicts cutting off threads (㡭) with an axe (斤)

Components

米
米 Simplified component
mǐ rice

Shorthand for the 㡭 component in the traditional character 斷.

斤
斤 Iconic component
jīn axe

Character Evolution

Clerical form
Clerical Jin 266-420 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

簖

Sources

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

子 zi, zǐ child

Pictograph of a small child with its two arms waving.

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
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
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
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 Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Spring and Autumn ~600 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 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 Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (10 of 21 verified)

好存字李孩孙季孤仔孟孽籽孺孢孪孳孥囝孫孨孿

Iconic (15)

了学教保包孔乳孕孝孚孛孑孓斿學

Sound (2 of 5 verified)

字仔孜籽耔

Remnant (3)

了孑孓

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttsiX[ts]əʔ 1st earthly branch
tsiXtsəʔ child; gentleman, master

說文解字

《說文》：“子，十一月陽气動，萬物滋，人以為偁。象形。，古文子，从巛，象髮也。，籀文子，囟有髮，臂、脛在几上也。”

Sources

Character origin
徐中舒《甲骨文字典》p.1571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)

绝 jué cut Simplified

Depicts a knife (刀) cutting a thread (纟). 卩 represents the sound. Simplified form of 絕.

Components

纟
纟 Iconic component
mì silk

纟 is a component form of 糸.

刀
刀 Iconic component
dāo knife
卩
卩 Sound component
jié person kneeling

Modern form looks like 巴.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 卩 than it was in ancient scripts.

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.888
Readings & variants
Unicode

孙 sūn grandchild Simplified

Simplified form of 孫. A grandchild is a small (小) child (子).

Components

子
子 Meaning component
zi, zǐ child
小
小 MeaningSimplified component
xiǎo small

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

逊荪狲

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

斷 duàn break, sever Traditional

Depicts cutting off threads (㡭) with an axe (斤)

Components

㡭
㡭 Iconic component
jì continue
斤
斤 Iconic component
jīn axe

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 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 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
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdwanXN-tˤo[n]ʔ be cut in two
twanXtˤo[n]ʔ cut in two
twanHtˤo[n]ʔ-s cut off; decide

說文解字

《說文》：“，截也。从斤，从。，古文絕。，古文从，，古文叀字。《周書》曰：‘猗無他技。’亦古文。”

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)

絕 jué cut Traditional

Depicts a knife (刀) cutting a thread (糸). 卩 represents the sound.

Components

糹
糹 Iconic component
mì silk

糹 is a component form of 糸.

刀
刀 Iconic component
dāo knife
卩
卩 Sound component
jié person kneeling

Modern form looks like 巴.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 卩 than it was in ancient scripts.

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 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 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 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 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 Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdzjwet[dz]ot cut off

說文解字

《說文》：“絕，斷絲也。从糸，从刀，从卩。，古文絕，象不連體，絕二絲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.888
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

孫 sūn grandchild Traditional

Semantic compound of "child" (子) and "relation" (系).

Components

子
子 Meaning component
zi, zǐ child
系
系 Meaning component
xì, xi, jì system

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
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 Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 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 Xin 9-23 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

遜猻

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartswon[s]ˤu[n] grandchild; descendant

說文解字

《說文》：“孫，子之子曰孫。从子，从系。系，續也。”

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)