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)
Pictograph of a hand (又) grabbing an ear (耳). In ancient China, the ears of opponents in battle were cut off and collected as tokens of victory.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | tshuwX | tsʰˤoʔ | take |
| tshjuX | tsʰoʔ | take | |
| tshjuH | [ts]ʰoʔ-s | take (a wife) |
說文解字
《說文》：“取，捕取也。从又，从耳。《周禮》：‘獲者取左耳。’《司馬法》曰：‘載獻聝。’聝者，耳也。”
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)
Original meaning: basket
Pictograph of a basket, now written as 箕. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | gi | gə | modal particle |
| gi | gə | (3p possessive) |
說文解字
《說文》：“箕，簸也。从竹；，象形；下其丌也。，古文箕省。，亦古文箕。，亦古文箕。廿从一八，籀文箕。，籀文箕。”
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: to use a farming tool for weeding
Depicts a hand (寸) using a farming tool (辰) to remove dirty weeds. Based on the original meaning "to use a farming tool for weeding", now written as 耨. The meaning of this character has shifted over time and now means "disgrace" and "humiliate".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | nyowk | nok | disgrace |
說文解字
《說文》：“辱，耻也。从寸在辰下。失耕時，於封畺上戮之也。辰者，農之時也。故房星為辰，田候也。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫李学勤《字源》p.1285
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)