A village (里) is an area of land (土) where people have fields (田). In simplified Chinese 里 is also used to mean "inside", while in traditional Chinese this meaning is written with a separate character 裡.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | liX | (mə.)rəʔ | li (measure of distance); village |
說文解字
《說文》:“里,居也。从田,从土。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.913
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Original meaning: straighten
Depicts rope wrapped around two pieces of wood to keep them straight. Based on the original meaning "straighten". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | pjut | p[u]t | (negation) |
| pjut | put | gust of wind | |
| pjut | put | writing brush (pron. in Yān 燕, ap. Shuōwén, E. Hàn) |
說文解字
《說文》:“弗,撟也。从丿,从,从韋省。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.856-857李学勤《字源》p.1104
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Simplified
Originally written as 惪, depicting a straight (直) heart (心). The 彳 (walk) component was added later.
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | tok | tˤək | virtue |
說文解字
《說文》:“德,升也。从彳,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)
Traditional
Original meaning: thank offering
Phonosemantic compound. 貝 represents the meaning and 𡨄 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "thank offering". The meaning later shifted to "compete".
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Old Chinese | |
|---|---|
| Zhengzhang | slɯːɡs |
說文解字
《說文新附》:“賽,報也。从貝,塞省聲。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Zhengzhang Shangfang
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)