紧衣缩食

紧 jǐn tense Simplified

Simplified form of 緊. Phonosemantic compound. 臤 represents the sound, while 糸 represents the meaning.

Components

𰀡
𰀡 Sound component
qiān to gouge out an eye
Change in sound
糸
糸 Meaning component
mì, sī silk

Depicts a thread being tightened.

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

衣 yī clothes

Pictograph of a shirt or coat.

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 Late Western Zhou ~800 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 Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (17 of 34 verified)

表装裁袭袋裂衷裹裳裘襄裴亵袅褒袤裟袈衮衾褰雜襞製裒裝裏袞襲褱扆褻𧝑裊

Iconic (6)

劳衰袁卒𲀭勞

Sound (2 of 5 verified)

依哀裔铱扆

Remnant (3)

劳勞奮

Unknown (1)

奮

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'j+jʔ(r)əj clothes
'j+jHʔ(r)əj-s wear (v.t.)

說文解字

《說文》：“衣，依也。上曰衣，下曰裳。象覆二人之形。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.663
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

缩 suō contract Simplified

Components

纟
纟 Meaning component
mì silk

thread

宿
宿 Sound component
sù, xiǔ lodge, sleep overnight

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

食 shí, shi eat

Depicts a mouth (亼) eating from a food vessel (皀).

Components

亼
亼 Iconic component
jí (upside-down mouth), to assemble

Depicts an upside-down mouth.

皀
皀 Iconic component
jí, bī, xiāng one grain

Depicts a food vessel.

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

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (4 of 11 verified)

餐饕飧飨饔餍餮養饜飬饗

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartzyikmə-lək eat
ziHs-m-lək-s feed (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“食，一米也。从皀，亼聲。或說亼皀也。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.435-436
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

緊 jǐn tense Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 臤 represents the sound, while 糸 represents the meaning.

Components

臤
臤 Sound component
to gouge out an eye
Change in sound
糸
糸 Meaning component
mì, sī silk

Depicts a thread being tightened.

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkjinXC.qi[n]ʔ (I! no palatalization)tight

說文解字

《說文》：“緊，纏絲急也。从臤，从絲省。”

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)

縮 suō contract Traditional

Components

糹
糹 Meaning component
mì silk

thread

宿
宿 Sound component
sù, xiǔ lodge, sleep overnight

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsrjuwk[s]rukshrink
Zhengzhangsruɡ
Unicodeshriuk

說文解字

亂也。从糸宿聲。一曰蹴也。

Sources

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