shén​mì​mò​cè

enigmatic

shén, shen spirit

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
shì show

is a component form of .

Sound component
shēn to extend

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartzyinCə.li[n] spirit

說文解字

《說文》:“神,天神,引出萬物者也。从示、申。”

Sources

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

secret, mysterious Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Originally written as . The component was later corrupted to .

Components

Simplified component
grain stalk

Corruption of the component in the original character .

Sound component
surely

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangmpriɡs

Sources

Character origin
李学勤《字源》p.6
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

mò, mo do not

Original meaning: sunset

Depicts the sun () shining through vegetation (). Based on the original meaning "sunset", now written as . The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

Iconic component
mǎng, mǔ vegetation, overgrown weeds
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.
Iconic component
sun

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
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
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 Qin 221-206 BC
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
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Wu) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (4 of 23 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartmakmˤak there is no X such that X …
makmˤak deliberate (v.) (loan)

說文解字

《說文》:“莫,日且冥也。从日在茻中。”

Sources

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

measure Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Simplified form of .

Components

Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

is a component form of .

Sound component
rule

Sources

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

mì, bì secret, mysterious Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
shì show

is a component form of .

Sound component
surely

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Wu) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

說文解字

《說文》:“祕,神也。从示,必聲。”

Sources

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

measure Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

is a component form of .

Sound component
rule

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsrhik[tsʰ]rək fathom (v.)

說文解字

《說文》:“測,深所至也。从水,則聲。”

Sources

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