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
Character Evolution
Component uses
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)
Pictograph of grains of rice.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | mejX | (C.)mˤ[e]jʔ | millet or rice grains, dehusked and polished |
說文解字
《說文》：“米，粟實也。象禾實之形。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.579-580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)
Depicts a person grabbing something with their hand. Original form of 把. In modern Chinese this character is usually used only for its sound.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | pae | pˤra | snake |
| pae | pˤra | [place name] |
說文解字
《說文》：“巴，蟲也。或曰食象蛇。象形。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 黃德寬《古文字譜系疏證》p.1637
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Original meaning: injury; wound
Depicts a person (大) being shot by an arrow (矢). The 大 component was later replaced with meaning component 疒. Based on the original meaning "injury; wound". The meaning of this character has shifted over time and now means "illness".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | dzit | [dz]i[t] | sickness |
說文解字
《說文》：“疾，病也。从疒，矢聲。，古文疾。，籀文疾。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 李学勤《字源》p.671
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)