横刀夺爱
héng​dāo​duó'ài

rob someone's love

横 héng across Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 黄 represents the sound. Simplified form of 橫.

Components

木
木 Meaning component
mù tree
黄
黄 Sound component
huáng yellow

說文解字

闌木也。从木黃聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

刀 dāo knife

Pictograph of a knife.

Character Evolution

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 Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Iconic (12)

方分解绝初亡勿刃絕叚𢇍刅

Meaning (3 of 5 verified)

切券剪劈㓞

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

召叨忉

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttawC.tˤaw knife

說文解字

《說文》：“刀，兵也。象形。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.352
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

夺 duó take by force Simplified

Simplified form of 奪. Depicts a hand (寸) snatching a bird (隹). The top component was originally 衣 (clothes), depicting a person holding a bird in their clothes, but later it was reanalyzed as a phonetic component, written as either 兌 or 大.

Components

大
大 Sound component
dà, dài big
奪
隹 Deleted component
zhuī, cuī, wéi bird
寸
寸 Iconic component
cùn, cun (hand), inch

Sources

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

爱 ài love Simplified

Simplified form of 愛. Phonosemantic compound. 旡 represents the sound and 友 (friend) represents the meaning.

Components

旡
旡 Sound component
jì choke on something eaten
Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 旡 than it was in ancient scripts.
◎
◎ Simplified component
characterless component

Component uses

Sound (1 of 5 verified)

暧嗳嫒瑷𫣊

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

橫 héng across Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 黃 represents the sound.

Components

木
木 Meaning component
mù tree
黃
黃 Sound component
huáng yellow

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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-SagarthwængC.ɡʷˤraŋcrosswise; horizontal
Zhengzhangɡʷraːŋ
ɡʷraːŋs
kʷaːŋ
Unicodehuæng
guɑ̀ng

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

奪 duó take by force Traditional

Depicts a hand (寸) snatching a bird (隹). The top component was originally 衣 (clothes), depicting a person holding a bird in their clothes, but later it was reanalyzed as a phonetic component, written as either 兌 or 大.

Components

大
大 Sound component
dà, dài big
隹
隹 Iconic component
zhuī, cuī, wéi bird
寸
寸 Iconic component
cùn, cun (hand), inch

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdwatCə.lˤot seize

說文解字

《說文》：“，手持隹失之也。从又，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)

愛 ài love Traditional

Originally a phonosemantic compound, with 旡 representing the sound and 心 (heart) representing the meaning. Later the 夂 component was added.

Components

兂
兂 Sound component
zān hairpin
Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 兂 than it was in ancient scripts.
心
心 Meaning component
xīn, xin heart
夂
夂 Unknown component
zhǐ, zhōng go

夂 is a component form of 止. The purpose of this component is unclear.

Character Evolution

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 Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 4 verified)

僾噯曖璦

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'ojH[q]ˤə[p]-s to love; to grudge (< ‘draw close to oneself’?)

說文解字

《說文》：“愛，行皃。从夊，聲。”

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)