阿佛洛狄忒 Origin — Chinese Character Wiki

ā name prefix

Original meaning: hillside

Phonosemantic compound. 阝 represents the meaning and 可 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "hillside". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

阝 Meaning component

fù hill, place

阝 is a component form of 阜.

Change in meaning

阝 hints at the original meaning of 阿, "hillside", which is no longer the most common meaning of 阿 in modern Mandarin.

可 Sound component

kě able to

Change in sound

阿 and 可 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
阿 *qˤa[j]
可 *[k]ʰˤa[j]ʔ

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Warring States 475-221 BC

Clerical form — Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1 of 6 verified)

啊婀锕屙痾錒

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	'a	qˤa[j]	slope, river bank
	'a	ʔˤa (< *qˤaj)	阿會亘 ēhuìxuān: Skt. ābhāsvara “shining” (E. Hàn)

說文解字

大陵也。一曰曲𨸏也。从𨸏可聲。

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)

fú Buddha

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 弗 represents the sound.

Components

亻 Meaning component

rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

弗 Sound component

fú not

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	bjut	[b][u]t	great

說文解字

《說文》：“佛，見不審也。从人，弗聲。”

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)

luò river in Shanxi province

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 各 represents the sound.

Components

氵 Meaning component

shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

各 Sound component

gè each

Change in sound

洛 and 各 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Middle Chinese.
洛 *lɑk
各 kak

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1)

落

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese
Zhengzhang		ɡ·raːɡ
Unicode	lɑk

說文解字

《說文》：“洛，水。出左馮翊歸德北夷界中，東南入渭。从水，各聲。”

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)

dí, tì tribe from northern China

Phonosemantic compound. 犭 represents the meaning and 火 represents the sound.

Components

犭 Meaning component

quǎn dog

犭 is a component form of 犬.

火 Sound component

huǒ fire

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

荻逖

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	dek	lˤek	(name of a northern tribe)

說文解字

《說文》：“狄，赤狄，本犬種。狄之為言淫辟也。从犬，亦省聲。”

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)

tè, tēi, tuī excessive

Components

弋 Sound component

yì to shoot

心 Meaning component

xīn, xin heart

heart

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

铽

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	thok	l̥ ˤək	err; change; deceitful
Zhengzhang		l̥ʰɯːɡ

說文解字

更也。从心弋聲。

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

阿 ā name prefix

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (1 of 6 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

佛 fú Buddha

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

洛 luò river in Shanxi province

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (1)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

狄 dí, tì tribe from northern China

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

忒 tè, tēi, tuī excessive

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

ā name prefix

fú Buddha

luò river in Shanxi province

dí, tì tribe from northern China

tè, tēi, tuī excessive