星星之火
xīng​xing​zhī​huǒ

spark

星 xīng a star

Phonosemantic compound. 日 represents the meaning and 生 represents the sound.

Components

日
日 Meaning component
rì sun
生
生 Sound component
shēng, sheng life

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 ~1200 - 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 5 verified)

醒猩腥惺戥

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

惺

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsengs-tsʰˤeŋ star

說文解字

《說文》：“曐，萬物之精，上為列星。从晶，生聲。一曰象形，从口，古口復注中，故與日同。，古文星。星，曐或省。”

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)

之 zhī [attributive particle]

Original meaning: go forwards

Pictograph of a foot (止) going out of an area. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

止
止 SoundIconic component
zhǐ (foot), stop

Depicts a foot.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 止 than it was in ancient scripts.
一
一 Iconic component
yī one

Used here to depict an area.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 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 Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 3 verified)

志寺芝

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsyitə go to
tsyitə (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)

火 huǒ fire

Pictograph of fire.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (29 of 121 verified)

炮烟炸灯烧爆燃赤煤烂炼炉焰煌炭焚烛炒灿燥烤耿灶烁焕熄灼烫炯炕熔煽炳烘炽炫炊荧炬烙烬炙煜炖焙烽灸燎焊煊熠熵烯烷炀燔熨烨燧烩煨炜煲焓烃烊炔焖焱熘炝炷熳煅煸焐焯炅煳燹炱炻煺爨燠烀爝燙爌燻燈烴煥煙焗炤焌炆燴齌燬烕燜焢燭煬燼烜畑熾尞爐燉煆熜煉燒爛熒熰燦

Iconic (14)

光票灭秋烦灰炎灾尉叟堇炏災煩

Sound (2 of 4 verified)

伙狄钬爍

Simplified (1)

灵

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartxwaX[qʷʰ]ˤəjʔ fire

說文解字

《說文》：“火，燬也。南方之行，炎而上，象形。”

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)