睪
yì

spy on

← Back to history
approved by cochleoid · Feb 28, 2025, 04:57 PM · Reviewed by cochleoid on Feb 28, 2025, 04:57 PM

Swapping a full-width comma for a half-width comma.

Changed fields: hint

Derived from two separate origins: the oracle bone 𬙜, depicting shooting an arrow (矢) into the eye (目), and later bronze script 𥇡, also formed from eye (目), but with shackles (㚔), signifying looking to catch criminals. Often confused with 睾.

Components

目
目 Iconic component
mù eye

Depicts an eye spying.

射
射 SoundRemnant component
shè shoot

Modern form looks like 幸. Originally the 矢 in 射.

Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 射 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

《說文》：“睪，目視也。从橫目，从，令吏將目捕罪人也。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.773-774劉釗《古文字構形學》p.87-88
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)