sì​xíng

act recklessly

sì, tì indulge

Original meaning: kill domestic animals and display them

Depicts a hand restraining a domestic animal () by holding its tail (). also represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "kill domestic animals and display them". The meaning later shifted to "shop", "wanton", "unrestrained", and "indulge".

Components

SoundIconic component
a kind of beast with long hair

Depicts a wild animal. Modern form looks like .

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

Depicts a hand () grabbing a tail (). Modern form looks like .


Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsijHs-ləp-s unrestrained

說文解字

《說文》:“,極陳也。从長,隶聲。,或从髟。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.216漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

xíng, háng walk

Depicts a street intersection.

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 Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 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 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 (7 of 12 verified)

Sound (1 of 9 verified)

Deleted (2)

Remnant (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthang[g]ˤaŋ rank, row
haengCə.[g]ˤraŋ walk (v.)
haengH[g]ˤraŋ-s action

說文解字

《說文》:“行,人之步趨也。从彳,从亍。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.138
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica