wèi​zuì​qián​táo

abscond

wèi fear

Pictograph of a ghost () wielding a stick (), which is a fearful sight to behold. is also a sound component.

Components

SoundIconic component
guǐ ghost
Iconic component
bo fortune telling

Depicts a stick.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Spring and Autumn ~600 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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
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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
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

Sound (2 of 6 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'jw+jHʔuj-s fear (v.); threaten

說文解字

《說文》:“畏,惡也。从甶,虎省。鬼頭而虎爪,可畏也。,古文省。”

Sources

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

zuì, zui crime

Original meaning: fishing net

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "fishing net". The current meaning, originally written , is a phonetic loan.

Components

Meaning component
wǎng net
Change in meaning
hints at the original meaning of , "fishing net", which is no longer the most common meaning of in modern Mandarin.
Sound component
fēi not

Character Evolution

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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdzwojX[dz]ˤujʔ crime, offense

說文解字

《說文》:“罪,捕魚竹网。从网、非。秦以罪為辠字。”

Sources

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

qián hide Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Simplified form of .

Components

Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

is a component form of .

Sound component
take the place of, stand in for

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

táo escape

Originally written as , a pictograph of two people escaping a flood. The (walk) component was added later to clarify the meaning.

Components

Meaning component
chuò walk

is a component form of .

SoundIconic component
zhào omen

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdawlˤaw flee

說文解字

《說文》:“逃,亡也。从辵,兆聲。”

Sources

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

qián hide Traditional

Components

Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

water

Sound component
cǎn, qián, jiàn if

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
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdzjem[dz][o]mgo under water; 驩潛 Khwārazm (region in Central Asia, W. Hàn)
dzjemH[dz][o]m-sto hide; secretly
Zhengzhangzlom
zloms
Unicodedzhiɛm

說文解字

涉水也。一曰藏也。一曰漢水爲潛。从水朁聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica