米已成炊
mǐ​yǐ​chéng​chuī

irreversible

米 mǐ rice

Pictograph of grains of rice.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (16 of 45 verified)

精粮糊粗粉粒粹糖糟粘糕粟糙籽粱糜糠糯粑粕粲粽粳糅糁籴粜粝粢糇籼糌糨糗糍粞糈糢糰糧匊糲糬氣䊪

Iconic (10)

料奥暴粪粥鬻糞䊆龹奧

Sound (1 of 7 verified)

迷眯咪麋敉脒洣

Simplified (3)

类断娄

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmejX(C.)mˤ[e]jʔ millet or rice grains, dehusked and polished

說文解字

《說文》：“米，粟實也。象禾實之形。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.579-580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)

已 yǐ already

Original meaning: a type of snake creature

Derived from 巳. Depicts a snake-like creature. Based on the original meaning "a type of snake creature". The current meaning "already" is a phonetic loan.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Simplified (1)

导

Sound (1)

异

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartyiXɢ(r)əʔ cease; already

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.979
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

成 chéng, cheng completed

Original meaning: city

Depicts defending city walls (丁) with an axe (戌). 丁 also represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "city", now written as 城. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

戌
戌 Iconic component
xū, qu 11th terrestrial branch

Depicts an axe.

丁
丁 SoundIconic component
dīng cubes

Depicts city walls.

Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 丁 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (4 of 6 verified)

城盛诚晟铖誠

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdzyeng[d]eŋ to become (v.i.)
dzyengm-[d]eŋ to complete (tr. v)

說文解字

《說文》：“成，就也。从戊，丁聲。，古文成从午。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.963-964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)

炊 chuī cook

Phonosemantic compound. 火 represents the meaning and 欠 represents the sound.

Components

火
火 Meaning component
huǒ fire
欠
欠 Sound component
qiàn, qian yawn, deficient

Character Evolution

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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangkʰjol
Unicodechiuɛ

說文解字

爨也。从火，吹省聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)