Original meaning: earthen jar
Pictograph of a earthen jar for holding liquid, now written as 瓮. The current meaning "public" is a phonetic loan.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | kuwng | C.qˤoŋ | impartial, just; public |
| kuwng | C.qˤoŋ | father; prince |
說文解字
《說文》：“公，平分也。从八、从厶。八，猶背也。韓非曰：‘背厶為公’。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.86-87
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Traditional
Original meaning: [name of river]
Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 齊 represents the sound.
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | tsejX | [ts]ˤ[i]jʔ | numerous |
| tsejX | [ts]ˤəjʔ | stately | |
| tsejX | [ts]ˤəjʔ | [river name] | |
| tsejH | [ts]ˤ[i]j(ʔ)-s | cross a stream; rescue | |
| tsejH | [ts]ˤ[i]j(ʔ)-s | stop |
說文解字
《說文》：“濟，水。出常山房子贊皇山，東入泜。从水，齊聲。”
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)