Phonosemantic compound. 虫 represents the meaning and 它 represents the sound. Originally written as 它.
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | zyae | Cə.lAj | snake |
| ye | laj | 委蛇 compliant, complacent |
說文解字
《說文》：“它，虫也。从虫而長，象冤曲垂尾形。上古艸居患它，故相問無它乎。蛇，它或从虫。”
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)
Pictograph of a hand (又) peeling off the skin from an animal.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | bje | m-[p](r)aj | skin |
說文解字
《說文》：“皮，剝取獸革者謂之皮。从又，為省聲。，古文皮。，籀文皮。”
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)