bù​xià

subordinate

part

Original meaning: place in Gansu province

Phonosemantic compound. ⻏ represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
city

⻏ is a component form of .

Change in meaning
hints at the original meaning of , "place in Gansu province", which is no longer the most common meaning of in modern Mandarin.
Sound component
pǒu to spit out

Character Evolution

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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartbuwX[b]ˤ(r)oʔ lead (v.), govern

說文解字

天水狄部。从邑咅聲。

Sources

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

xià, xia under

Originally a small line or dot below a longer line, indicating "down". The vertical line was added to distinguish the character from (two). Opposite of .

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Jin 266-420 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

Iconic (1)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarthaeXgˤraʔ down
haeHm-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