Originally a variant of 弟 (younger brother), which originally meant "order".
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | dejH | [l]ˤəjʔ-s | sequence |
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.478
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
Original meaning: separate
Pictograph of two lines facing away from each other. The current meaning "eight" is a phonetic loan. The original meaning "separate" is now written as 別.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | peat | pˤret | eight |
說文解字
《說文》：“八，別也。象分別相背之形。”
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)