赤贫如洗
chì​pín​rú​xǐ

impoverished

赤 chì red

Depicts the color of a large (大) fire (火).

Components

大
大 Meaning component
dà, dài big
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 大 than it was in ancient scripts.
火
火 Meaning component
huǒ fire
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 火 than it was in ancient scripts.

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 Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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
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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (1 of 3 verified)

赫赭赧

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

郝赦哧

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsyhek[t-qʰ](r)Ak red

說文解字

《說文》：“赤，南方色也。从大、从火。烾，古文从炎、土。”

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)

贫 pín poor Simplified

Money 贝 that must be split 分; 分 also provides the pronunciation

Components

分
分 SoundMeaning component
fēn, fèn, fen divide
贝
贝 Meaning component
bèi sea shell

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

如 rú be like

Original meaning: obey

Depicts a woman (女) obeying spoken (口) orders. Based on the original meaning "obey". The meaning later shifted to "be similar" and "like". 女 also serves as a sound component.

Components

女
女 SoundIconic component
nǚ, nü woman
口
口 Iconic component
kǒu, kou mouth

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 5 verified)

恕絮茹洳铷

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartnyona go to
nyona as, like, if

說文解字

《說文》：“如，从隨也。从女，从口。”

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)

洗 xǐ wash

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 先 represents the sound.

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

先
先 Sound component
xiān first
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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-SagartsejX[s]ˤərʔ wash
senXsˤərʔ wash

說文解字

《說文》：“洗，洒足也。从水，先聲。”

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)

貧 pín poor Traditional

Money 貝 that must be split 分; 分 also provides the pronunciation

Components

分
分 SoundMeaning component
fēn, fèn, fen divide
貝
貝 Meaning component
bèi sea shell

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartbin[b]rə[n]poor
Zhengzhangbrɯn
Unicodebhyin

說文解字

財分少也。从貝从分，分亦聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)