Original meaning: young woman of marriageable age
Pictograph of a woman (母) with a hairpin in her hair. In ancient China, women of marriageable age wore a hairpin. Based on the original meaning "young woman of marriageable age". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | mwojX | mˤəʔ | each |
說文解字
《說文》：“，艸盛上出也。从屮，母聲。”
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)
The 二 (two) component represents the meaning "second" and also indicates the sound. The 欠 (deficient) represents the meaning "secondary" or "substandard".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | tshijH | [s-n̥]i[j]-s | lodge (v.) |
| tshijH | [s-n̥]i[j]-s | put in order; second |
說文解字
《說文》：“次，不前不精也。从欠，二聲。，古文次。”
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)