Original meaning: jade ornament
Possibly depicts using a blade (䇂) to engrave a block of jade. Based on the original meaning "jade ornament", now written as 璋. Later the meaning shifted to "seal" and "chapter".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | tsyang | taŋ | brilliant; distinctive mark; to display |
說文解字
《說文》：“章，樂竟為一章。从音，从十。十，數之終也。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 李学勤《字源》p.198
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Addition of a dot to 大 (dà; big) to mean "very" or "extremely".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | thajH | l̥ˤa[t]-s | great |
說文解字
《說文》：“泰，滑也。从廾，从水，大聲。夳，古文泰。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.800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)
Combination of two fires (火).
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | hjem | [ɢ]ʷ(r)am | burn, blazing |
說文解字
《說文》：“炎，火光上也。从重火。”
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)