這
zhèzhèi HSK1

this

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

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

这 zhè this 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

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

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

Sources

Character origin
Wiktionary
Readings & variants
Unicode