jí​shū

write rapidly

illness

Original meaning: injury; wound

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

Components

Meaning component
sick

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

Iconic component
shǐ arrow

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

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

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

shū book Simplified

Simplified form of . Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. The simplified character is derived from the cursive form of .

Components

writing brush
zhě one who...
Change in sound

Sources

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

shū book Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
writing brush
Sound component
zhě one who...
Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsyos-ta write

說文解字

《說文》:“書,箸也。从聿,者聲。”

Sources

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