Pictograph of a person (人) wearing an ornament resembling sheep horns (羊). Alludes to the Qiang people, who are known for their lifestyle with sheep. 羊 also represents the sound. Similar in origin to 美.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Sound (0 of 1 verified)
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | khjang | C.qʰaŋ | western tribes |
說文解字
《說文》：“羌，西戎牧羊人也。从人，从羊，羊亦聲。南方蠻閩从虫，北方狄从犬，東方貉从豸，西方羌从羊，此六種也。西南人、僬僥从人，蓋在坤地，頗有順理之性。唯東夷从大，大，人也。夷俗仁，仁者壽，有君子不死之國。孔子曰：‘道不行，欲之九夷，乘桴浮於海，有以也。’，古文羌如此。”
Sources
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Simplified
Original meaning: dance
Pictograph of a person dancing, with ox tails or bird feathers hanging from his arms, to pray for rain. Original form of 舞 (dance). The current form is a phonetic loan. The simplified character 无 was adapted from the cursive form of the traditional character 無.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | mju | ma | not have |
說文解字
《說文》：“，亡也，从亡無聲；无，奇字无，通於元者，王育說：‘天屈西北為无。’”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.495
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | kuH | kˤa(ʔ)-s | fact; reason |
| kuH | kˤaʔ-s | old (not new) |
說文解字
《說文》：“故，使為之也。从攴，古聲。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 李学勤《字源》p.250
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Simplified
Original meaning: rich; plentiful
Simplified form of 實. Depicts a string of money (貫) under a roof (宀). Based on the original meaning "rich; plentiful". The meaning later expanded to "solid", "fruit", and "true". The 貫 component was changed to 头 for simplification.
Components
Sources
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
Traditional
Original meaning: dance
Pictograph of a person dancing, with ox tails or bird feathers hanging from his arms, to pray for rain. Original form of 舞 (dance). The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | mju | ma | not have |
| mju | ma | volitional prefix | |
| mju | mo | don’t |
說文解字
《說文》：“，豐也。从林、。或說規模字。从大；，數之積也；林者，木之多也。與庶同意。《商書》曰：｀庶草繁無’。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.495
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Traditional
Original meaning: rich; plentiful
Depicts a string of money (貫) under a roof (宀). Based on the original meaning "rich; plentiful". The meaning later expanded to "solid", "fruit", and "true".
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | zyit | mə.li[t] | fruit; full |
說文解字
《說文》：“實，富也。从宀，从貫。貫，貨貝也。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.593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)