A village (里) is an area of land (土) where people have fields (田). In simplified Chinese 里 is also used to mean "inside", while in traditional Chinese this meaning is written with a separate character 裡.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | liX | (mə.)rəʔ | li (measure of distance); village |
說文解字
《說文》：“里，居也。从田，从土。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.913
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Original meaning: stop; approach
Depicts one person (匕) carrying another person (尸) on their back. Based on the original meaning "stop; approach". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | nejX | nˤərʔ | to stop |
| nejH | nˤərʔ-s | to stop, obstruct | |
| nrij | nr[əj] | near, close |
說文解字
《說文》：“尼，從後近之。从尸，匕聲。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.675-676
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
西 was written two different ways in ancient scripts: (1) a pictograph of a bird's nest, and (2) a variant of the phonetically similar 囟.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | sej | s-nˤər | west |
| sej | s-nˤər | west |
說文解字
《說文》：“西，鳥在巢上，象形。日在西方而鳥棲，故因以為東西之西。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.831-832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)
Simplified
Original meaning: tomb
Simplified form of 亞. Depicts a wooden structure where coffins are placed. Based on the original meaning "tomb". The current meaning "Asia" is a phonetic loan.
Traditional
Original meaning: tomb
Depicts a wooden structure where coffins are placed. Based on the original meaning "tomb". The current meaning "Asia" is a phonetic loan.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | 'aeH | ʔˤrak-s | secondary |
說文解字
《說文》：“亞，醜也。象人局背之形。賈侍中說以為次弟也。”
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)