疾
jí HSK6

illness

← Back to history
approved by Prismcool · Aug 16, 2025, 05:37 AM · Reviewed by Prismcool on Aug 16, 2025, 05:37 AM

Added entry

Changed fields: hint, originalMeaning, isVerified, components, customSources

Original meaning: injury; wound

Depicts a person (大) being shot by an arrow (矢). The 大 component was later replaced with meaning component 疒. Based on the original meaning "injury; wound". The meaning of this character has shifted over time and now means "illness".

Components

疒
疒 Meaning component

Originally 大, which depicted a person. Later replaced by meaning component 疒.

矢
矢 Iconic component

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 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 Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdzit[dz]i[t] sickness

說文解字

《說文》：“疾，病也。从疒，矢聲。，古文疾。，籀文疾。”

Sources

Character origin
李学勤《字源》p.671
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)