zhè​lèi

this kind

zhè this Simplified

Original meaning: to meet

Simplified form of , which originally meant "to meet" and had a pronunciation corresponding to modern Mandarin yàn. later acquired an unrelated pronunciation and meaning through confusion with another character.

Components

Meaning component
chuò walk
Change in meaning
hints at the original meaning of , "to meet", which is no longer the most common meaning of in modern Mandarin.
wén writing

Simplified from the component in the traditional character , which is based on archaic pronunciation yàn.

Sources

Character origin
Wiktionary
Readings & variants
Unicode

lèi class Simplified

Simplified form of . Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Simplified component
rice

Shorthand for , the sound component in the traditional character .

Simplified component
dà, dài big

Shorthand for , the meaning component in the traditional character .

Sources

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

zhè this Traditional

Original meaning: to meet

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. The character originally meant "to meet" and had a pronunciation corresponding to modern Mandarin yàn. later acquired an unrelated pronunciation and meaning through confusion with .

Components

Meaning component
chuò walk
Change in meaning
hints at the original meaning of , "to meet", which is no longer the most common meaning of in modern Mandarin.
Sound component
yán speech

Based on archaic pronunciation yàn.

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangŋrans

Sources

Character origin
Wiktionary
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

lèi class, kind Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Sound component
bright white
Meaning component
quǎn dog

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartlwijH[r]u[t]-s category

說文解字

《說文》:“類,種類相似,唯犬為甚。从犬,頪聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica