Original meaning: take away a sacrificial offering
Depicts moving (辶) a sacrificial grain offering (簋) away. Based on the original meaning "take away a sacrificial offering". The meaning later shifted to "withdraw" and "retreat".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | thwojH | n̥ˤ[u]p-s | withdraw (≠ advance) |
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.129-130
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
Pictograph of a right-side up person (亻) and an upside-down person (𠤎), depicting the meaning "turn around" or "transform".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | xwaeH | qʷʰˤ<r>aj-s | transform |
說文解字
《說文》：“化，教行也。从，从人，亦聲。”
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)