Original meaning: glare at
Pictograph of an eye, similar to 目. Based on the original meaning "glare at", now written as 瞋. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | dzyin | [g]i[ŋ] | slave, subject |
說文解字
《說文》：“臣，牽也，事君也。象屈服之形。”
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)
Depicts a woman (女) with a damaged reputation (䇂 is a pictograph of a tool used to tattoo the face of criminals as punishment).
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | tshjep | [tsʰ]ap | concubine |
說文解字
《說文》：“妾，有辠女子，給事之得接於君者。从，从女。《春秋》云：‘女為人妾，妾不娉也。’”
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)