gāo high

Pictograph of a tall building.

Components

Iconic component
jīng capital city

Pictograph of a tall building.

kǒu, kou mouth

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (3 of 4 verified)

Remnant (2)

Simplified (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkawCə.[k]ˤaw high, tall

說文解字

《說文》:“高,崇也,象臺觀高之形。从冂、口,與倉舍同意。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.448
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

děng rank

Phonosemantic compound. ⺮ represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
zhú bamboo

⺮ is a component form of . Alludes to an orderly arrangement of writings on bamboo strips.

Sound component
sì, shì temple
Change in sound

Character Evolution

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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttongXtˤəŋʔ step, grade

說文解字

《說文》:“等,齊簡也。从竹,从寺。寺,官曹之等平也。”

Sources

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

zhí duty

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Simplified form of .

Components

Meaning component
ěr ear
Sound component
zhǐ, zhī only

Sources

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

profession

Original meaning: attack

Simplified character from the top 5 strokes of the traditional . Depicts a person () carrying a weapon (). Based on the original meaning "attack". The meaning later shifted to "expand territory" and "develop business".

Components

zhuó chisel

Shorthand for the component. Depicts a chisel-shaped weapon.

Deleted component
dà, dài big

Depicts a person.

Component uses

Simplified (2)

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.168-169Chinese Language Stack Exchange
Readings & variants
Unicode

skill

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

is a component form of .

Sound component
zhī support, hold up

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartgjeX[g]reʔ skill

說文解字

《說文》:“技,巧也。从手,支聲。”

Sources

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

shù art

Original meaning: city road

Simplified form of . Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. The traditional component was removed for simplification. Based on the original meaning "city road". The meaning later shifted to "way", "method", "technique", and "skill".

Components

Deleted component
xíng, háng walk

The traditional component was removed for simplification.

Change in meaning
hints at the original meaning of , "city road", which is no longer the most common meaning of in modern Mandarin.
Sound component
shù glutinous millet

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

說文解字

《說文》:“秫,稷之黏者。从禾、术,象形。术,秫或省禾。”

Sources

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

xué learning

Simplified form of . Depicts two hands (𦥑) teaching a child () under a roof (). represents the sound.

Components

Simplified component
characterless component

Shorthand for the 𦥑 and components in the traditional character .

Iconic component
mián roof
Iconic component
zi, zǐ child

Component uses

Sound (1)

Remnant (1)

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

xiào school

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
tree
Sound component
jiāo to cross, to mix

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangkreːws
ɡreːws
Unicodegàu
hàu

說文解字

《說文》:“校,木囚也。从木,交聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica