sī​shú

private school

private

Original meaning: grain

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "grain". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

Meaning component
grain stalk
SoundMeaning component
sī, mǒu private, selfish

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Bronze form
Bronze 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsij[s]əj private

說文解字

《說文》:“私,禾也。从禾,厶聲。北道名禾主人曰私主人。”

Sources

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

shú village school

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
earth
Sound component
shú who? which? what? which one?

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangdjɯwɢ

說文解字

門側堂也。从土孰聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica