生石灰
shēng​shí​huī

quicklime

生 shēng, sheng life

Pictograph of a sprout (屮) emerging from the ground (一).

Components

屮
屮 Iconic component
chè, cǎo sprout

Depicts a sprout growing.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 屮 than it was in ancient scripts.
一
一 Iconic component
yī one

Used here to depict the ground.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (7 of 11 verified)

性青星省胜姓牲甥笙旌眚

Meaning (4 of 5 verified)

靑甤甦產産

Deleted (1)

产

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsraengsreŋ (MC srj- > sr-; or *s.reŋ ?)bear, be born; live
sraengsreŋ fresh, raw
srjaengsreŋ (or *s.reŋ ?)bear, be born; live

說文解字

《說文》：“生，進也。象艸木生出土上。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.506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)

石 shí stone

Pictograph of a musical stone chime. The 口 component was added later as a meaningless decorative mark.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (19 of 116 verified)

确研破础硬码碰矿碎岩碍磨磁碗碧碑砍砖砸碌砂硫碳碟砰碱磅礁磷磕硝砌矶磋硅磊砾磺磐碉碘碾泵砚砥宕碴砧砷矾硼砺砭碣碛硒硎礴砣碜砒砦矸砝碇碚矽磬砩硪碓硐硷硗碡硌砻磔砗砹砀硖炻磙砜磴砬硭硇確砘砼砑磲碥碲砟礅矻礎磉礙硃礓礞礦砲碼硙磚磯礤碹碬礬硯

Sound (5 of 10 verified)

度拓硕庶橐斫柘炻跖碩

Iconic (4)

声段庶叚

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdzyekdAk stone

說文解字

《說文》：“石，山石也。在厂之下，口象形。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.727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)

灰 huī ashes

Depicts a hand (又) picking ashes left over from a fire (火).

Components

又
又 Iconic component
yòu hand
火
火 Iconic component
huǒ fire

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 5 verified)

恢盔诙咴詼

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartxwojm̥ˤə ashes

說文解字

《說文》：“灰，死火餘也。从火，从又。又，手也。火既滅，可以執持。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫李学勤《字源》p.890
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)