无地自容
wú​dì​zì​róng

mortified

无 wú negative Simplified

Original meaning: dance

Pictograph of a person dancing, with ox tails or bird feathers hanging from his arms, to pray for rain. Original form of 舞 (dance). The current form is a phonetic loan. The simplified character 无 was adapted from the cursive form of the traditional character 無.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Spring and Autumn ~600 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Spring and Autumn ~600 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 Eastern Han 25-220 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

Sound (0 of 6 verified)

抚芜妩庑呒怃

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartmjuma not have

說文解字

《說文》：“，亡也，从亡無聲；无，奇字无，通於元者，王育說：‘天屈西北為无。’”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.495
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

地 de, dì earth

Phonosemantic compound. 土 represents the meaning and 也 represents the sound.

Components

土
土 Meaning component
tǔ earth
也
也 Sound component
yě also
Change in sound

Character Evolution

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 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-SagartdijH[l]ˤej-s earth, ground

說文解字

《說文》：“地，元气初分，輕、清、陽為天；重、濁、陰為地。萬物所陳列也。从土，也聲。墬，籀文地从。”

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)

自 zì (nose), self

Original meaning: nose

Pictograph of a nose. Original form of 鼻 (nose). In China, when people point to themselves, they typically point to their nose.

Character Evolution

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 Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Iconic (5)

息鼻牵牽𰄩

Sound (1 of 5 verified)

瘪憩洎邊癟

Meaning (3 of 4 verified)

咱臭戛辠

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdzijHs.[b]i[t]-s self (adv.)
dzijHs.[b]i[t]-s to follow; from

說文解字

《說文》：“自，鼻也。象鼻形。，古文自。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.272
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

容 róng contain; appearance

Phonosemantic compound. 宀 represents the meaning and 公 represents the sound.

Components

宀
宀 Meaning component
mián roof
公
公 Sound component
gōng public
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 公 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Jin 266-420 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 5 verified)

溶蓉镕榕鎔

Meaning (0 of 3 verified)

熔镕鎔

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartyowng[ɢ](r)oŋ contain
yowng[ɢ](r)oŋ appearance

說文解字

《說文》：“容，盛也。从宀、谷。，古文容从公。”

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)

無 wú negative Traditional

Original meaning: dance

Pictograph of a person dancing, with ox tails or bird feathers hanging from his arms, to pray for rain. Original form of 舞 (dance). The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Character Evolution

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 Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 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 Qin 221-206 BC
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 7 verified)

舞鄦廡蕪撫嫵嘸

Iconic (1)

舞

Remnant (1)

舞

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartmjuma not have
mjuma volitional prefix
mjumo don’t

說文解字

《說文》：“，豐也。从林、。或說規模字。从大；，數之積也；林者，木之多也。與庶同意。《商書》曰：｀庶草繁無’。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.495
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)