Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | |
|---|---|---|
| Zhengzhang | laː | |
| Unicode | ia |
Sources
- Character origin
- Wiktionary
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Zhengzhang Shangfang
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
Three horizontal strokes, representing the number three.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | sam | s.rum (*s.r- > s-; infl. by 四 *s-?) | three |
| samH | s.r[u]m-s (*s.r- > *s-, infl. by 四 *s-?) | three times |
說文解字
《說文》:“三,天地人之道也。从三數。弎,古文三从弋。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.51
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Original meaning: leaf
Depicts three leaves on branches of a tree. Remnant from the top part of 枼. Based on the original meaning "leaf", now written as 葉. The meaning later shifted to "generation", since leaves pile up in hundreds much like a generation.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | syejH | l̥ap-s | generation |
說文解字
《說文》:“世,三十年為一世,从卉而曳長之,亦取其聲也。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.159劉志基《中國漢字文物大系》Vol 3, p.70
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Traditional
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | |
|---|---|---|
| Zhengzhang | rɯː | |
| rɯːs | ||
| Unicode | ləi |
說文解字
《說文》:“萊,蔓華也。从艸,來聲。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Zhengzhang Shangfang
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Traditional
Pictograph of three stalks of grain. Alludes to the even and uniform appearance of a grain field.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | dzej | [dz]ˤəj | uniform, equal |
| dzej | [dz]ˤəj | Qí (place name) |
說文解字
《說文》:“齊,禾麥吐穗上平也。象形。”
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)