lí​shù

populace

black

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Sound component
lì, li benefit
Meaning component
shǔ proso millet

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 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 Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartlej[r]ˤij (Cf. 耆 0552l gij < *[g]rij ‘old’)old
lej[r]ˤij black

說文解字

《說文》:“,履黏也。从黍,省聲。,古文利。作履黏以黍米。”

Sources

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

shù, zhù, zhē numerous

Original meaning: to cook; boil

Depicts a stone pot () over a fire (). Based on the original meaning "to cook; boil", now written as . The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

SoundIconic component
shí stone
Iconic component
biāo, huǒ fire

is a component form of .


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 Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 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 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

Sound (3 of 6 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsyoHs-tak-s numerous; commoner

說文解字

《說文》:“庶,屋下眾也。从广、炗。炗,古文光字。”

Sources

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