有则改之，无则加勉 Origin — Chinese Character Wiki

yǒu have

Depicts a hand (又) holding meat (肉). In Oracle script this character was written the same as the phonetically similar 又, but later the 肉 component was added to distinguish them.

Components

又 Sound Iconic component

yòu hand

Change in form

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

肉 Iconic component

ròu meat

Deceptively similar but unrelated to the character for moon (月).

Change in form

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

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1 of 9 verified)

郁囿宥鲔侑铕洧鮪迶

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

贿賄

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	hjuwX	[ɢ]ʷəʔ	have, exist

說文解字

《說文》：“有，不宜有也。《春秋傳》曰：‘日月有食之。’从月，又聲。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.550
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

zé rule Simplified

Original meaning: law

Simplified form of 則. Depicts carving inscriptions on bronzeware (鼎) with a knife (刂). Based on the original meaning "law". In ancient China, some legal writings were inscribed on bronzeware.

Components

鼎 Iconic Remnant component

dǐng, zhēn cooking pot

Modern form looks like unrelated 贝.

刂 Iconic component

dāo knife

刂 is a component form of 刀.

Component uses

Sources

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

gǎi change

Phonosemantic compound. 攵 represents the meaning and 己 represents the sound.

Components

己 Sound component

jǐ self

Change in sound

改 and 己 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Middle Chinese.
改 kojX
己 kiX

攵 Meaning component

pū tap

攵 is a component form of 攴.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kojX	C.qˤəʔ	change (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“改，更也。从攴、己。”

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)

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 Sound Iconic 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 Iconic component

yī one

Used here to depict an area.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (2 of 3 verified)

志寺芝

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)

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

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 6 verified)

抚芜妩庑呒怃

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	mju	ma	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)

jiā add

Depicts making loud noises with the mouth (口) to add power (力) during manual labor.

Components

力 Meaning component

lì, li power

口 Meaning component

kǒu, kou mouth

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (6 of 17 verified)

架驾贺嘉咖迦伽茄枷瘸袈痂珈跏笳賀駕

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

珈哿

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kae	kˤraj	add

說文解字

《說文》：“加，語相增加也。从力，从口。”

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)

miǎn endeavor

Phonosemantic compound. 力 represents the meaning and 免 represents the sound.

Components

力 Meaning component

lì, li power

免 Sound component

miǎn (hat), avoid

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	mjenX	mr[o][r]ʔ	make an effort
Zhengzhang		mronʔ
Unicode	myɛ̌n

說文解字

彊也。从力免聲。

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

zé rule Traditional

Original meaning: law

Depicts carving inscriptions on bronzeware (鼎) with a knife (刂). Based on the original meaning "law". In ancient China, some legal writings were inscribed on bronzeware.

Components

鼎 Iconic Remnant component

dǐng, zhēn cooking pot

Modern form looks like unrelated 貝.

Change in form

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

刂 Iconic component

dāo knife

刂 is a component form of 刀.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (3 of 6 verified)

賊測惻廁側鰂

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tsok	[ts]ˤək	then
	tsok	[ts]ˤək	rule, pattern

說文解字

《說文》：“則，等畫物也。从刀，从貝。貝，古之物貨也。，古文則。，亦古文則。，籀文則从鼎。”

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)

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

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1 of 7 verified)

舞鄦廡蕪撫嫵嘸

Iconic (1)

舞

Remnant (1)

舞

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	mju	ma	not have
	mju	ma	volitional prefix
	mju	mo	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)

有 yǒu have

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (1 of 9 verified)

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

则 zé rule Simplified

Components

Component uses

Sound (3 of 7 verified)

Remnant (1)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Sources

改 gǎi change

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

之 zhī [attributive particle]

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (2 of 3 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

无 wú negative Simplified

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (0 of 6 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

加 jiā add

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (6 of 17 verified)

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

勉 miǎn endeavor

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

則 zé rule Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (3 of 6 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

無 wú negative Traditional

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (1 of 7 verified)

Iconic (1)

Remnant (1)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

yǒu have

zé rule Simplified

gǎi change

zhī [attributive particle]

wú negative Simplified

jiā add

miǎn endeavor

zé rule Traditional

wú negative Traditional