Original meaning: nose
Pictograph of a nose. Original form of 鼻 (nose). In China, when people point to themselves, they typically point to their nose.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | dzijH | s.[b]i[t]-s | self (adv.) |
| dzijH | s.[b]i[t]-s | to follow; from |
說文解字
《說文》：“自，鼻也。象鼻形。，古文自。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.272
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Simplified
Original meaning: scorch
Simplified form of 習. Phonosemantic compound. 彗 represents the sound and 日 represents the meaning. Based on the original meaning "to scorch". The current meaning is a phonetic loan. The traditional component 日 was removed for simplification.
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
說文解字
《說文》：“羽，鳥長毛也。象形。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Traditional
Original meaning: scorch
Phonosemantic compound. 彗 represents the sound and 日 represents the meaning. Based on the original meaning "to scorch". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Components
Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 彗 than it was in ancient scripts.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | zip | s-ɢʷəp (with root *ɢʷəp ‘wing’?) | repeat; practice |
說文解字
《說文》：“習，數飛也。从羽，从白。”
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)