疑难问题 Origin — Chinese Character Wiki

yí doubt

Pictograph of a person holding onto a staff, looking to the side with his mouth open, doubtful of which direction to go. The 龰 (foot) component was added later to indicate movement, and the 牛 component was added to hint at the sound.

Components

◎ Iconic component

characterless component

Depicts a person standing up, holding onto a staff, with their mouth open and looking to the side.

牛 Sound component

niú cow

Change in sound

疑 and 牛 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
疑 *[ŋ](r)ə (< uvular)
牛 *[ŋ]ʷə (< uvular?)

Change in form

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 牛 than it was in ancient scripts.

龰 Meaning component

zhǐ (foot)

龰 is a component form of 止.

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Clerical form — Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1 of 5 verified)

凝嶷礙癡擬

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	ngi	[ŋ](r)ə (< uvular)	doubt

說文解字

《說文》：“疑，惑也。从子、止、匕，矢聲。”

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫李学勤《字源》p.1281
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

nán, nan, nàn difficult Simplified

Original meaning: type of bird

Simplified form of 難. Phonosemantic compound. 隹 represents the meaning and 𦰩 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "type of bird". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

又 Simplified component

yòu again

Shorthand for the 𦰩 component in the traditional character 難.

隹 Meaning component

zhuī, cuī, wéi bird

Component uses

Sound (2 of 4 verified)

滩摊瘫傩

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

wèn, wen ask (about) Simplified

Simplified form of 問. Phonosemantic compound. 口 represents the meaning and 门 represents the sound.

Components

口 Meaning component

kǒu, kou mouth

门 Sound component

mén, men door

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode

tí topic Simplified

Original meaning: forehead

Simplified form of 題. Phonosemantic compound. 页 represents the meaning and 是 represents the sound. The character is based on the original meaning "forehead". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

页 Meaning component

yè page

Depicts a head.

是 Sound component

shì, shi is

Change in sound

题 and 是 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in older Chinese.

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode

nán, nan, nàn difficult Traditional

Original meaning: type of bird

Phonosemantic compound. 隹 represents the meaning and 𦰩 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "type of bird". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

𦰩 Sound component

jiān to sigh

Change in sound

難 and 𦰩 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in older Chinese.

隹 Meaning component

zhuī, cuī, wéi bird

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (2 of 4 verified)

攤儺癱灘

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	nan	nˤar	difficult
	nanH	nˤar-s	difficulty

說文解字

《說文》：“，鳥也。从鳥，堇聲。難，或从隹。”

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)

wèn, wen ask (about) Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 口 represents the meaning and 門 represents the sound.

Components

口 Meaning component

kǒu, kou mouth

門 Sound component

mén, men door

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	mjunH	C.mu[n]-s	ask

說文解字

《說文》：“問，訊也。从口，門聲。”

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)

tí topic Traditional

Original meaning: forehead

Phonosemantic compound. 頁 represents the meaning and 是 represents the sound. The character is based on the original meaning "forehead". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

頁 Meaning component

yè (head), page

Depicts a head.

是 Sound component

shì, shi is

Change in sound

題 and 是 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
題 deː
是 *[d]eʔ

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese
Zhengzhang		deː
		deːs
Unicode	dhei

說文解字

《說文》：“題，頟也。从頁，是聲。”

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

疑 yí doubt

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (1 of 5 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

难 nán, nan, nàn difficult Simplified

Components

Component uses

Sound (2 of 4 verified)

Sources

问 wèn, wen ask (about) Simplified

Components

Sources

题 tí topic Simplified

Components

Sources

難 nán, nan, nàn difficult Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (2 of 4 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

問 wèn, wen ask (about) Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

題 tí topic Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

yí doubt

nán, nan, nàn difficult Simplified

wèn, wen ask (about) Simplified

tí topic Simplified

nán, nan, nàn difficult Traditional

wèn, wen ask (about) Traditional

tí topic Traditional