Origin unclear. Possibly depicts a thumb or a person's face.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | baek | bˤrak | white |
說文解字
《說文》：“白，西方色也。陰用事，物色白。从入合二。二，陰數。，古文白。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.625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)
Depicts hair above the eye (目).
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | mij | mr[ə][r] | eyebrow |
說文解字
《說文》：“眉，目上毛也。从目，象眉之形，上象頟理也。”
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)
Originally depicted a person carrying an axe while singing. Now a phonosemantic compound. 欠 (pictograph of a person opening their mouth) represents the meaning and 哥 represents the sound.
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | ka | [k]ˤaj | sing, song |
說文解字
《說文》：“歌，詠也。从欠，哥聲。謌，謌（歌）或从言。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.696
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)