xū​yú

moment

must Simplified

Original meaning: beard

Pictograph of a person with a bearded face. Simplified form of . The meaning "must" is a phonetic loan.

Components

Iconic component
shān, xiǎn hair
Iconic component
page

Depicts a head.

Sources

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

yú, yǔ, yǒng moment

Origin unclear. Possibly depicts two hands grabbing a person.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 6 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartyu[ɢ](r)o pull, drag

說文解字

《說文》:“臾,束縛捽抴為臾。从申,从乙。”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

must Traditional

Original meaning: beard

Pictograph of a person with a bearded face. Based on the original meaning "beard", now written as . The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

Iconic component
shān, xiǎn hair
Iconic component
(head), page

Depicts a head.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 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 Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1)

Iconic (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsjuC-[s.n]o beard
sju[s]o 斯須 a short time

說文解字

《說文》:“須,面毛也。从頁,从彡。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica