Simplified
Original meaning: to meet
Simplified form of 這, which originally meant "to meet" and had a pronunciation corresponding to modern Mandarin yàn. 這 later acquired an unrelated pronunciation and meaning through confusion with another character.
Components
Sources
- Character origin
- Wiktionary
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
Originally a small line or dot below a longer line, indicating "down". The vertical line was added to distinguish the character from 二 (two). Opposite of 上.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | haeX | gˤraʔ | down |
| haeH | m-gˤraʔ-s | descend |
說文解字
《說文》：“丅，底也。指事。下，篆文丅。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.47
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Pictograph of a small child with its two arms waving.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | tsiX | [ts]əʔ | 1st earthly branch |
| tsiX | tsəʔ | child; gentleman, master |
說文解字
《說文》：“子，十一月陽气動，萬物滋，人以為偁。象形。，古文子，从巛，象髮也。，籀文子，囟有髮，臂、脛在几上也。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 徐中舒《甲骨文字典》p.1571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)
Traditional
Original meaning: to meet
Phonosemantic compound. 辶 represents the meaning and 言 represents the sound. The character originally meant "to meet" and had a pronunciation corresponding to modern Mandarin yàn. 這 later acquired an unrelated pronunciation and meaning through confusion with 遮.
Components
Historical Pronunciations
| Old Chinese | |
|---|---|
| Zhengzhang | ŋrans |
Sources
- Character origin
- Wiktionary
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Zhengzhang Shangfang