页岩气
yè​yán​qì

shale gas

页 yè page Simplified

Simplified form of 頁. Pictograph of a head (首) on top of a person (卩). Means "head" when pronounced xié. Has unrelated meaning "leaf" when pronounced yè, due to this character being adopted as a variant form of 葉.

Components

首
首 Iconic component
shǒu head
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 首 than it was in ancient scripts.
卩
卩 Iconic component
jié person kneeling

Component uses

Meaning (14 of 35 verified)

题领项预顿顾额顺顶颜颇颤顽颈颠硕颁颂颊颅颓颐颌颉颚颔颧颏颞颀颛顸颡颃颥

Iconic (5)

须烦频顷濒

Unknown (0 of 2 verified)

颖颍

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

颗

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

岩 yán cliff

The rocks 石 that make up a mountain 山

Components

山
山 Meaning component
shān mountain
石
石 Meaning component
shí stone

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartngæm[ŋ]ˤr[a]m (< uvular?)rocky, lofty
Zhengzhangŋraːm
Unicodengam

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang

气 qì, qi air Simplified

Depicts a gust of air.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (4 of 23 verified)

汽氧氛氢氯氨氮氖氟氦氲氰氤氩氚氪氘氡氙氕氳氜氫

Sound (4)

汽忾饩氣

Iconic (1)

氣

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkhj+jHC.qʰəp-s (inhaled thing:) breath, air, vapors

說文解字

《說文》：“气，雲气也。象形。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.58-59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)

頁 yè (head), page Traditional

Original meaning: head

Pictograph of a head (首) on top of a person (卩). Means "head" when pronounced xié. Has unrelated meaning "leaf" when pronounced yè, due to this character being adopted as a variant form of 葉.

Components

首
首 Iconic component
shǒu head
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 首 than it was in ancient scripts.
卩
卩 Iconic component
jié person kneeling

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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

Component uses

Meaning (16 of 38 verified)

題頸顯預顧項顱順顏頗領顗頂額顫顬頌頰顎頹願顳顓頷頒頤顛碩頓頜顴頦頏顚顙龥頑頡

Iconic (11)

头夏履寡頭須頻頃煩瀕頪

Simplified (1)

头

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

顆

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

穎

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangleb
ɡleːd

說文解字

《說文》：“頁，頭也。从，从儿。古文如此。者首字也。”

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)

氣 qì, qi air Traditional

Original meaning: gift of grain

Phonosemantic compound. 米 represents the meaning and 气 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "gift of grain", now written as 餼. The current meaning "air" is a phonetic loan.

Components

米
米 Meaning component
mǐ rice
气
气 SoundIconic component
qì, qi air

Depicts a gust of air.

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 3 verified)

餼愾滊

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkhj+jHC.qʰəp-s cloudy vapors
xj+jHqʰət-s to present food

說文解字

《說文》：“氣，饋客芻米也。从米，气聲。《春秋傳》曰：‘齊人來氣諸矦。’，氣或从既；餼，氣或从食。”

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)