Original meaning: beard
Originally a pictograph of a beard, now written as 耏. The current use as a conjunction is a phonetic loan.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | nyi | nə | and, but |
說文解字
《說文》：“而，頰毛也。象毛之形。《周禮》曰：‘作其鱗之而。’”
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)
Original meaning: closed mouth
Depicts a closed mouth. Upside-down 曰. The meaning "now" is a phonetic loan.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | kim | [k]r[ə]m | now |
說文解字
《說文》：“今，是時也。从亼，从乁。乁，古文及。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.440
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)