Addition of a horizontal line toward the bottom of 木 (tree) to represent the roots of the tree.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | pwonX | C.pˤə[n]ʔ | tree trunk |
說文解字
《說文》：“本，木下曰本。从木，一在其下。楍，古文。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.484-485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)
A single vertical line, representing one set of ten. Analagous to the archaic characters 廿 (twenty) and 卅 (thirty). Possibly originally a picture of a needle, now written as 針.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | dzyip | t.[g]əp | ten |
說文解字
《說文》：“十，數之具也。一為東西，丨為南北，則四方中央備矣。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.155
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Origin unclear. Various explainations include (1) possibly derives from 入 (enter), with two strokes on the bottom to distinguish it from 入 (enter) or (2) a pictograph of a hut, which is thought to be the original form of 廬. Either way, the current meaning is a phoentic loan.
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | ljuwk | k.ruk | six |
說文解字
《說文》：“六，《易》之數，陰變於六，正於八。从入，从八。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫黃德寬《古文字譜系疏證》p.635-637Wiktionary
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Original meaning: leaf
Depicts three leaves on branches of a tree. Remnant from the top part of 枼. Based on the original meaning "leaf", now written as 葉. The meaning later shifted to "generation", since leaves pile up in hundreds much like a generation.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | syejH | l̥ap-s | generation |
說文解字
《說文》：“世，三十年為一世，从卉而曳長之，亦取其聲也。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.159劉志基《中國漢字文物大系》Vol 3, p.70
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Traditional
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | towk | tˤuk | firm, solid |
| Zhengzhang | tuːɡ |
說文解字
馬行頓遟。从馬竹聲。
Sources
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)