行行出状元
háng​háng​chū​zhuàng​yuán

vocational excellence

行 xíng, háng walk

Depicts a street intersection.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (7 of 12 verified)

卫街衙衢術衛鸻衖衝衕鴴衚

Sound (1 of 9 verified)

衡衔珩桁荇銜绗筕絎

Deleted (2)

术卫

Remnant (1)

彳

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthang[g]ˤaŋ rank, row
haengCə.[g]ˤraŋ walk (v.)
haengH[g]ˤraŋ-s action

說文解字

《說文》：“行，人之步趨也。从彳，从亍。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.138
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

出 chū go out

Pictograph of a foot (止) exiting a cave (凵).

Components

止
止 Iconic component
zhǐ (foot), stop

Depicts a foot.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 止 than it was in ancient scripts.
凵
凵 Iconic component
qiǎn, kǎn enclosure

Depicts a cave.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 9 verified)

础屈拙咄黜茁绌诎絀

Meaning (2 of 4 verified)

卖茁粜賣

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

祟

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsyhwitt-kʰut go or come out
tsyhwijHt-kʰut-s bring or take out

說文解字

《說文》：“出，進也。象艸木益滋上出達也。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.501-502
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

状 zhuàng form, shape Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 犬 represents the meaning and 丬 represents the sound. Simplified form of 狀.

Components

丬
丬 Sound component
qiáng piece of wood

丬 is a component form of 爿.

犬
犬 Meaning component
quǎn dog

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

元 yuán first

Pictograph of a person with a line added at the head area, representing the meaning "head" or "first".

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Seal form
Seal Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Xin 9-23 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (7 of 16 verified)

完远园玩冠顽阮沅髡鼋芫朊翫蚖黿頑

Iconic (2)

冠寇

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartngjwon[ŋ]o[r] (< nasal + uvular)head; first

說文解字

《說文》：“元，始也。从一，从兀。”

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)

狀 zhuàng form, shape Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 犬 represents the meaning and 爿 represents the sound.

Components

爿
爿 Sound component
pán, qiáng piece of wood
犬
犬 Meaning component
quǎn dog

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdzrjangH[dz]raŋ-s form, appearance

說文解字

《說文》：“狀，犬形也。从犬，爿聲。”

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)