cāi​zháo

guess correctly

cāi guess

Original meaning: viciously resent

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Meanings derived from resentful suspicion.

Components

Meaning component
quǎn dog

(dog, animal) signifies animalistic sentiment.

Change in meaning
hints at the original meaning of , "viciously resent", which is no longer the most common meaning of in modern Mandarin.
Sound component
qīng green or blue
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

《說文》:“猜,恨賊也。从犬,青聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical images
Academia Sinica

zhe, zháo, zhuó [progress particle] Simplified

Original meaning: chopsticks

Simplified form of . represents the meaning and represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "chopsticks", now written as . The modern meanings are phonetic loans.

Components

cao, cǎo grass

Alludes to bamboo chopsticks. and ⺮ (bamboo) were often used interchangeably with each other because of their visual and semantic similarity.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.
Sound component
zhě one who...

Historical Pronunciations

Middle Chinese
Unicodedjiɑk
djiɑk

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

zhe, zháo, zhù [progress particle] Traditional

Original meaning: chopsticks

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "chopsticks", now written as . The modern meanings are phonetic loans.

Components

Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

Alludes to bamboo chopsticks. and ⺮ (bamboo) were often used interchangeably with each other because of their visual and semantic similarity.

Change in meaning
hints at the original meaning of , "chopsticks", which is no longer the most common meaning of in modern Mandarin.
Sound component
zhě one who...

Character Evolution

Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttrjoHt<r>ak-s place (n.); visible
drjakm-t<r>ak put on clothes; be attached
trjakt<r>ak to place

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica