Simplified
Original meaning: to steal rice
Phonosemantic compound. 穴 represents the meaning and 切 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "to steal rice". The meaning of this character has shifted over time and now means "secretly". Simplified form of 竊.
Components
Sources
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
Original meaning: grain
Phonosemantic compound. 禾 represents the meaning and 厶 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "grain". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | sij | [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
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Traditional
Original meaning: to steal rice
Phonosemantic compound. 穴 represents the meaning and 䊪 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "to steal rice". The meaning of this character has shifted over time and now means "secretly".
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | tshet | [tsʰ]ˤet | steal |
說文解字
《說文》：“竊，盜自中出曰竊。从穴、从米，、廿皆聲。廿，古文疾；，古文偰。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 李学勤《字源》p.648季旭昇《說文新證》p.580-581
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Traditional
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | ngjoX | ŋ(r)aʔ | speak |
| ngjoH | ŋ(r)aʔ-s | tell |
說文解字
《說文》：“語，論也。从言，吾聲。”
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)