读万卷书，行万里路 Origin — Chinese Character Wiki

dú read Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 讠 represents the meaning and 𧸇 represents the sound. Simplified form of 讀.

Components

讠 Meaning component

yán speech

讠 is a component form of 言.

卖 Simplified component

mài, mai sell

Simplified from the 𧸇 component in the traditional character 讀.

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

wàn ten thousand Simplified

Original meaning: to not be seen

Simplified form of 萬. Variant of 丏. Depicts a person (人) with a cover on top, conveying the original meaning "to not be seen". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

一 Iconic component

yī one

Used here to depict a cover.

人 Iconic component

rén, ren person

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

厉虿劢

Meaning (0 of 3 verified)

迈趸疠

Historical Pronunciations

	Old Chinese
Zhengzhang	mans
	mɯːɡ

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.701黃德寬《古文字譜系疏證》p.2839-2840
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images: Academia Sinica

juǎn, juàn curl, roll

Phonosemantic compound. 龹 represents the sound and 卩 represents the meaning.

Components

龹 Sound component

juǎn to roll rice into a ball

卩 Meaning component

jié person kneeling

Depicts a person with bent knees.

Character Evolution

Seal form — Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (2 of 9 verified)

圈倦蜷绻鬈锩綣惓捲

Meaning (2 of 5 verified)

圈倦蜷鬈捲

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kjwenX	[k](r)o[n]ʔ	roll (v.)
	gjwen	[g]ʷren	handsome

說文解字

《說文》：“卷，厀曲也。从卪，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)

shū book Simplified

Simplified form of 書. Phonosemantic compound. 聿 represents the meaning and 者 represents the sound. The simplified character 书 is derived from the cursive form of 書.

Components

聿 Meaning Simplified component

yù writing brush

者 Sound Simplified component

zhě one who...

Change in sound

书 and 者 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in older Chinese.

Sources

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

xíng, háng walk

Depicts a street intersection.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	hang	[g]ˤaŋ	rank, row
	haeng	Cə.[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)

lǐ, li village

A village (里) is an area of land (土) where people have fields (田). In simplified Chinese 里 is also used to mean "inside", while in traditional Chinese this meaning is written with a separate character 裡.

Components

田 Meaning component

tián field

土 Meaning component

tǔ earth

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (5 of 17 verified)

理埋哩厘狸鲤俚锂娌裡悝釐陧裏貍鋰鯉

Iconic (0 of 1 verified)

廛

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

㢆

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	liX	(mə.)rəʔ	li (measure of distance); village

說文解字

《說文》：“里，居也。从田，从土。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.913
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

lù road

Phonosemantic compound. 足 represents the meaning and 各 represents the sound.

Components

足 Meaning component

zú foot

各 Sound component

gè each

Change in sound

路 and 各 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
路 *Cə.rˤak-s
各 *kˤak

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1 of 5 verified)

露璐潞鹭鷺

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	luH	Cə.rˤak-s	road

說文解字

《說文》：“路，道也。从足，从各。”

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)

dú read Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 言 represents the meaning and 𧸇 represents the sound.

Components

言 Meaning component

yán speech

𧸇 Sound component

yù to sell

The original sound component 𧸇 was later corrupted to the visually and semantically similar character 賣.

Change in sound

讀 and 𧸇 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in older Chinese.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	duwk	C.lˤok	read (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“讀，誦書也。从言，賣聲。”

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)

wàn ten thousand Traditional

Original meaning: scorpion

Originally a pictograph of a scorpion. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Meaning (0 of 3 verified)

邁躉癘

Sound (1)

厲

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	mjonH	C.ma[n]-s	10,000

說文解字

《說文》：“萬，蟲也。从厹，象形。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.954-955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)

shū book Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 聿 represents the meaning and 者 represents the sound.

Components

聿 Meaning component

yù writing brush

者 Sound component

zhě one who...

Change in sound

書 and 者 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Middle Chinese.
書 syo
者 tsyaeX

Change in form

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 者 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	syo	s-ta	write

說文解字

《說文》：“書，箸也。从聿，者聲。”

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)

读 dú read Simplified

Components

Sources

万 wàn ten thousand Simplified

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

Meaning (0 of 3 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

卷 juǎn, juàn curl, roll

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (2 of 9 verified)

Meaning (2 of 5 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

书 shū book Simplified

Components

Sources

行 xíng, háng walk

Character Evolution

Component uses

Meaning (7 of 12 verified)

Sound (1 of 9 verified)

Deleted (2)

Remnant (1)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

里 lǐ, li village

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (5 of 17 verified)

Iconic (0 of 1 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

路 lù road

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (1 of 5 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

讀 dú read Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

萬 wàn ten thousand Traditional

Character Evolution

Component uses

Meaning (0 of 3 verified)

Sound (1)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

書 shū book Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

dú read Simplified

wàn ten thousand Simplified

juǎn, juàn curl, roll

shū book Simplified

xíng, háng walk

lǐ, li village

lù road

dú read Traditional

wàn ten thousand Traditional

shū book Traditional