需
xū HSK3

need

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approved by Peter Olson · May 17, 2021, 09:17 PM · Reviewed by Peter Olson on May 17, 2021, 09:17 PM

verify

Changed fields: hint, originalMeaning, isVerified, components, customSources

Original meaning: wait

Pictograph of a person standing under the rain (雨), representing the meaning "wait (for rain to stop)", now written as 濡. The person component was later replaced with the phonetic component 而.

Components

雨
雨 Iconic component
而
而 Sound component
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsjus-no wait

說文解字

《說文》：“需，也，遇雨不進止也。从雨，而聲。《易》曰：‘雲上於天，需。’”

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)