Original meaning: bamboo strips for writing
Phonosemantic compound. ⺮ represents the meaning and 間 represents the sound. The character is based on the original meaning "bamboo strips for writing". The meaning later shifted to "letter", "concise", and "simple".
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | keanX | kˤre[n]ʔ | bamboo slip for writing |
| keanX | kˤre[n]ʔ | select, large-minded, etc. |
說文解字
《說文》：“簡，牒也。从竹，間聲。”
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)