Phonosemantic compound. 王 and 吕 represent the meaning and 今 represents the sound. 王 depicts a metal axe and 吕 depicts two metal plates.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | kim | k(r)[ə]m | metal, bronze |
說文解字
《說文》：“金，五色金也。黄為之長，久薶不生衣，百鍊不輕，从革不違。西方之行，生於土，从土，左右注象金在土中形，今聲。，古文金。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.925
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Three horizontal strokes, representing the number three.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | sam | s.rum (*s.r- > s-; infl. by 四 *s-?) | three |
| samH | s.r[u]m-s (*s.r- > *s-, infl. by 四 *s-?) | three times |
說文解字
《說文》：“三，天地人之道也。从三數。弎，古文三从弋。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.51
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Pictograph of a horn.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | kaewk | C.[k]ˤrok | horn, corner |
說文解字
《說文》：“角，獸角也。象形，角與刀魚相似。”
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)