绝句
jué​jù

quatrain

绝 jué cut Simplified

Depicts a knife (刀) cutting a thread (纟). 卩 represents the sound. Simplified form of 絕.

Components

纟
纟 Iconic component
mì silk

纟 is a component form of 糸.

刀
刀 Iconic component
dāo knife
卩
卩 Sound component
jié person kneeling

Modern form looks like 巴.

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

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.888
Readings & variants
Unicode

句 jù sentence

Original meaning: bent

口 represents the sound and 丩 represents the meaning and the sound.

Components

丩
丩 SoundMeaning component
jiū join
Change in meaning
丩 hints at the original meaning of 句, "bent", which is no longer the most common meaning of 句 in modern Mandarin.
口
口 Sound component
kǒu, kou mouth

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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

Sound (6 of 20 verified)

局够狗拘苟驹枸劬笱朐岣鸲鼩鉤齣昫𱌮竘駒夠

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

鉤

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkuw[k]ˤ(r)o curved
kuwH[k]ˤ(r)ok-s loan for 彀 draw a bow to the full
kjuH[k](r)o-s phrase

說文解字

《說文》：“句，曲也。从口，丩聲。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.152-153
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

絕 jué cut Traditional

Depicts a knife (刀) cutting a thread (糸). 卩 represents the sound.

Components

糹
糹 Iconic component
mì silk

糹 is a component form of 糸.

刀
刀 Iconic component
dāo knife
卩
卩 Sound component
jié person kneeling

Modern form looks like 巴.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 卩 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
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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
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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdzjwet[dz]ot cut off

說文解字

《說文》：“絕，斷絲也。从糸，从刀，从卩。，古文絕，象不連體，絕二絲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.888
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)