lí​xiū

retire

leave Simplified

Depicts using a net (𠦒) to catch prey in a forest (). also represents the sound. In simplified Chinese is also used to mean "leave", while in traditional Chinese this meaning is written with a separate character .

Components

SoundIconic component
lín forest
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.
𠦒
𠦒 Iconic component
bān net for catching birds or rabbits

Depicts a net. Similar to .


Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 10 verified)

Meaning (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttrhjer̥aj mountain demon

說文解字

《說文》:“离,山神獸也。从禽頭,从厹,从屮。歐陽喬說:‘离,猛獸也。’”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.954林志強《《文源》評注》p.7漢語多功能字庫李学勤《字源》p.1268-1269陳靖《兩周古文字編注》p.2182
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

xiū rest

Depicts a person () resting under a tree ().

Components

Iconic component
rén person

is a component form of .

Iconic component
tree

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~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
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 Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 6 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartxjuwqʰ(r)u rest (v.)
xjuwqʰ(r)u blessing

說文解字

《說文》:“休,息止也。从人依木。庥,休或从广。”

Sources

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

leave Traditional

Original meaning: catch a bird

Depicts a bird () being caught in a bird trap (). Based on the original meaning "catch a bird". The meaning later shifted to "reject", "separate", and "leave".

Components

Iconic component
hǎn, hàn rare

Depicts a bird trap.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.
Iconic component
zhuī, cuī, wéi bird

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartlje[r]aj meet with, encounter
lje[r]aj depart from
ljeHraj-s reject

說文解字

《說文》:“離,離黃,倉庚也。鳴則蠶生。从隹,离聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.954
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica