秀丽
xiù​lì HSK7

beautiful

秀 xiù elegant, excellent

Depicts a grain seedling (禾) pulled out (引) of the ground. The meaning later expanded to "bloom", "blossom", "elegant", and "excellent".

Components

禾
禾 Iconic component
hé grain stalk
引
引 IconicRemnant component
yǐn to pull

Modern form looks like 乃.

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

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 7 verified)

透诱绣锈莠誘銹

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

诱誘

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsjuwH[s-l]u(ʔ)-s to flower

說文解字

《說文》：“秀，上諱。”

Sources

Character origin
李学勤《字源》p.632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)

丽 lì beautiful Simplified

Simplified form of 麗. Pictograph of a deer (鹿) with two beautiful antlers. The traditional component 鹿 was removed for simplification.

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts two beautiful antlers on the head of a deer.

麗
鹿 Deleted component
lù deer

The traditional component 鹿 was removed for simplification.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 7 verified)

俪骊郦鹂逦鲡酾

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangreːls

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

麗 lì beautiful Traditional

Pictograph of a deer (鹿) with two beautiful antlers.

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts two beautiful antlers on the head of a deer.

鹿
鹿 Iconic component
lù deer

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 6 verified)

鱺儷曬灑鸝驪

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartlejH[r]ˤe-s symmetrical

說文解字

《說文》：“麗，旅行也。鹿之性見食急則必旅行。从鹿，丽聲。《禮》‘麗皮納聘’，蓋鹿皮也。，古文；，篆文麗字。”

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)