Original meaning: god of soil
Originally depicted a god (礻) of the soil (土). The meaning later shifted to "shrine", "congregation", and "society".
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | dzyaeX | m-tʰAʔ | sacrifice to the spirit of the soil |
說文解字
《說文》：“社，地主也。从示、土。《春秋傳》曰：‘共工之子句龍為社神。’《周禮》：‘二十五家為社，各樹其土所宜之木。’，古文社。”
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)
Pictograph of a person standing with crossed legs, conveying the meaning "to cross".
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | kaew | [k]ˤraw | cross (v.) |
說文解字
《說文》：“交，交脛也。从大，象交形。”
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 written as 無, which is a pictograph of a person dancing, with ox tails or bird feathers hanging from his arms, to pray for rain. The 舛 (two feet) component was later added to emphasize the action of dancing after 無 was phonetically borrowed for different meanings.
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | mjuX | k.m(r)aʔ | dance (v.) |
說文解字
《說文》：“舞，樂也。用足相背。从舛，舞聲。，古文舞从羽、亡。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.472林志強《《文源》評注》p.203
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)