破竹建瓴 Origin — Chinese Character Wiki

Chinese Character Wiki Wiki

pòzhújiànlíng

irresistible force

pò break

Phonosemantic compound. 石 represents the meaning and 皮 represents the sound.

Components

石 Meaning component

shí stone

皮 Sound component

pí skin

Change in sound

破 and 皮 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
破 *pʰˤaj-s
皮 *m-[p](r)aj

Character Evolution

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

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

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	phaH	pʰˤaj-s	break (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“破，石碎也。从石，皮聲。”

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)

zhú bamboo

Pictograph of bamboo stalks.

Character Evolution

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 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

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	trjuwk	truk	bamboo

說文解字

《說文》：“竹，冬生艸也。象形。下垂者，箁箬也。”

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

jiàn build

Depicts a hand setting up a wooden post (聿) at the corner of a building site (𠃊).

Components

聿 Iconic component

yù writing brush

Depicts a hand setting up a post.

𠃊 Iconic component

yǐn hidden area

Depicts the corner of a building site. Modern form looks like 廴.

Character Evolution

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 Qin 221-206 BC

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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Xin 9-23 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (3 of 8 verified)

健键腱犍毽鍵踺楗

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kjonH	[k]a[n]-s	set up, establish

說文解字

立朝律也。从聿从廴。

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.136
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

líng concave channels of tiling a long-necked jar

Components

令 Sound component

lìng command

瓦 Meaning component

wǎ earthenware

pottery

Character Evolution

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Old Chinese
Zhengzhang	reːŋ

說文解字

瓮，似瓶也。从瓦令聲。

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)