婁

Originally phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡ·roː, *ɡ·ro): semantic 爪 (“hands”) + phonetic 角 (OC *kroːɡ, *ɡ·roːɡ) + semantic 女 (“woman”). Meaning uncertain.
Later ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 母 (“mother”) + 中 + 女 (“daughter”).

Han compound

娄
𡞔
𡝨
𡝤
𡡋
𡡼
𡜰
𡇔
𣫻

(Chinese astronomy) the constellation Lóu, one of the twenty-eight lunar mansions


央

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 大 (“man”) + 冂 (“pole”) - a man carrying a pole with its middle on his shoulder.
於 (OC ʔa) plus terminative suffix *-ŋ, hence literally "to get to be in the middle" (Schuessler, 2007). See 於 (OC ʔa) for further etymology.


奔

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 人 (“person”) + 止 (“foot”).


墳

→ Zhuang: faenz

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *bɯn, *bɯnʔ): semantic 土 + phonetic 賁 (OC *prals, *bɯl, *pɯːn, *bɯn).
According to STEDT, possibly from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-bʷam ~ s-bʷap (“to swell; swollen, fat, thick; rounded part, mountain, hill”); see 胖 (OC *pʰaːns, “fat (adjective)”) for more.


姨

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *lil): semantic 女 (“woman”) + phonetic 夷 (OC *lil).

Han compound

二姨

aunt (a term of address for a woman around one's mother's age or slightly younger)


嫂

→ Thai: ซ้อ (sɔ́ɔ)

→ Tagalog: inso

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *suːwʔ): semantic 女 (“woman”) + phonetic 叟 (OC *suːʔ)
* Mandarin
*:(Pinyin): sǎo (sao³)
*:(Zhuyin): ㄙㄠˇ
* Cantonese (Jyutping): sou²
* Hakka
*: (Sixian, PFS): só
*: (Meixian, Guangdong): sau³
* Eastern Min (BUC): sō̤
* Puxian Min (Pouseng Ping'ing): so³ / sor³
* Southern Min
*: (Hokkien, POJ): só / só͘
*: (Teochew, Peng'im): so² / sao²
* Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): ⁵sau
* Mandarin
** (Standard Chinese)⁺
*** Hanyu Pinyin: sǎo
*** Zhuyin: ㄙㄠˇ
*** Tongyong Pinyin: sǎo
*** Wade–Giles: sao³
*** Yale: sǎu
*** Gwoyeu Romatzyh: sao
*** Palladius: сао (sao)
*** Sinological IPA ⁽ᵏᵉʸ⁾: /sɑʊ̯²¹⁴/
* Cantonese
** (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
*** Jyutping: sou²
*** Yale: sóu
*** Cantonese Pinyin: sou²
*** Guangdong Romanization: sou²
*** Sinological IPA ⁽ᵏᵉʸ⁾: /sou̯³⁵/
* Hakka
** (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Neipu)
*** Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: só
*** Hakka Romanization System: so^ˋ
*** Hagfa Pinyim: so³
*** Sinological IPA: /so³¹/
** (Meixian)
*** Guangdong: sau³
*** Sinological IPA: /sau³¹/
* Eastern Min
** (Fuzhou)
*** Bàng-uâ-cê: sō̤
*** Sinological IPA ⁽ᵏᵉʸ⁾: /so³³/
* Puxian Min
** (Putian)
*** Pouseng Ping'ing: so³
*** Sinological IPA ⁽ᵏᵉʸ⁾: /ɬo⁴⁵³/
** (Xianyou)
*** Pouseng Ping'ing: so³
*** Sinological IPA ⁽ᵏᵉʸ⁾: /ɬɵ³³²/
** (Putian)
*** Pouseng Ping'ing: sor³
*** Sinological IPA ⁽ᵏᵉʸ⁾: /ɬɒ⁴⁵³/
** (Xianyou)
*** Pouseng Ping'ing: sor³
*** Sinological IPA ⁽ᵏᵉʸ⁾: /ɬɒ³³²/
Note:
*so3 - vernacular;
*sor3 - literary.
* Southern Min
** (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
*** Pe̍h-ōe-jī: só
*** Tâi-lô: só
*** Phofsit Daibuun: soir
*** IPA (Kaohsiung): /sɤ⁴¹/
*** IPA (Quanzhou): /so⁵⁵⁴/
*** IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Taipei): /so⁵³/
** (Hokkien: Quanzhou)
*** Pe̍h-ōe-jī: só͘
*** Tâi-lô: sóo
*** Phofsit Daibuun: sor
*** IPA (Quanzhou): /sɔ⁵⁵⁴/
** (Teochew)
*** Peng'im: so² / sao²
*** Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: só / sáu
*** Sinological IPA ⁽ᵏᵉʸ⁾: /so⁵²/, /sau⁵²/
Note:
*so2 - vernacular;
*sao2 - literary.
* Wu
** (Northern: Shanghai)
*** Wugniu: ⁵sau
*** MiniDict: sau^去
*** Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ²sau
*** Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /sɔ³⁴/
* Middle Chinese: sawX
* Old Chinese
*: (Zhengzhang): /*suːwʔ/


寀

/t͡sʰaɪ̯²¹⁴/

/t͡sʰɔːi̯³⁵/

/t͡sʰaɪ̯²¹⁴/

/t͡sʰɔːi̯³⁵/


妙

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *mews): semantic 女 (“woman”) + phonetic 少 (OC *hmjewʔ, *hmjews)


姬

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *klɯ, *lɯ): semantic 女 (“woman; matrilateral family line; family name”) + phonetic 𦣞 ().
; Zhou dynastic surname
:Instead, he suggests an etymological connection between "the two intermarrying moieties, a ruling clan and its collateral, wife-supplying counterpart": 姬 (OC *(C)ɰə̀ɰ) and 姜 (*(C)ɰàŋ). He also points to other word-pairs, including 似 (MC ziX, “to resemble”) < *-əɰʔ and 像 (MC zjangX, “to imitate, image”) < *-aŋʔ, which display the phonetic correspondences: *-ɰ vs. *-ŋ as well *-ə- vs. *-a- (ibid.)
; lady (ancient laudatory title for women)
; "gay"

Han compound

Ji ("姬") was originally the surname of the Zhou; their princesses were more honorable than princesses of other states; therefore women with laudatory appellations are all called Ji ("姬").

Jī běn Zhōu xìng, qí nǚ guì yú lièguó zhī nǚ, suǒyǐ fùrén měihào jiē chēng jī.

姬本周姓，其女貴於列國之女，所以婦人美號皆稱姬。

姬本周姓，其女贵于列国之女，所以妇人美号皆称姬。

(historical) Royal (Princess) Ji (formal appellation for various women born out of the royal house of Zhou)

王姬

Are they not expressive of reverence and harmony, the carriages of the king's daughter (lit. "the Royal Princess Ji")?

The Classic of Poetry, c. 11ᵗʰ – 7ᵗʰ centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

曷不肅雝、王姬之車。

曷不肃雍、王姬之车。

(historical) the various Ji (collective appellation for various nobles and states' rulers patrilineally related to the royal house of Zhou)

諸姬

诸姬

Admirable are those, my cousins (lit. "the various Ji nobles"); I will take counsel with them.

孌彼諸姬、聊與之謀。

娈彼诸姬、聊与之谋。

a surname, used by the ruling family of the House of Zhou


嫁

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kraːs): semantic 女 + phonetic 家 (OC *kraː).
Exoactive of 家 (OC *kraː, “home, house”), with the addition of the denominal verbalisation suffix *-s in Old Chinese, meaning “to go to one's new home; to become married”. In the Baxter–Sagart system, an additional pronunciation is posited for the causative sense (“to make someone become married; to marry off”), formed with the prolific Old Chinese causative prefix *s-. Compare 娶.


妖

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *qrow): semantic 女 + phonetic 夭 (OC *qoːwʔ, *qrow, *qrowʔ).

Han compound

(Cantonese, vulgar) yuck! (used in place of its near-homophone 屌 (diu2))


孀

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *sraŋ): semantic 女 (“woman”) + phonetic 霜 (OC *sraŋ).
Zhang (2000) relates it to 喪 (OC *smaːŋ, “mourning; funeral”), 喪 (OC *smaːŋs, “to lose”) and 霜 (OC *sraŋ, “frost (which causes loss)”). However, Schuessler (2007) considers these three words etymologically unrelated.


婊

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声): semantic 女 (“female”) + phonetic 表.

Han compound

(slang, derogatory) to be badmouthed; to be wrongly accused; to be regarded as a bitch


回

Pictogram (象形): rotation (originally a spiral).
; "Hui"

alt. forms: 迴／回 (huí)

往回走

回過身來

回过身来

turned around (one's head) and had a look

回頭看了一眼

回头看了一眼

Journey to the West has 100 chapters in total.

《西遊記》全書共一百回。

《西游记》全书共一百回。

Sometimes children in the neighbourhood, hearing laughter, came to join in the fun, and surrounded Kung I-chi.

Yǒu jǐ huí, línshè háizi tīng de xiàoshēng, yě gǎn rènào, wéi zhù le Kǒng Yǐjǐ.

有幾回，鄰舍孩子聽得笑聲，也趕熱鬧，圍住了孔乙己。

有几回，邻舍孩子听得笑声，也赶热闹，围住了孔乙己。

alt. forms: 迴／回 (huí)

Classifier for number of occurrences of events: times

1955–56 / 1976, 金庸, chapter 1, in 書劍恩仇錄, 明河社, page 26:

Zhǐ jiàn shù shí pǐ luòtuó jiā zhe èr sān shí pǐ mǎ, chéng zhě dōu shì Huí rén, gāo bí shēn mù, mǎn liǎn nóng xū, tóu chán bái bù, yāo xuán wān dāo.

只見數十匹駱駝夾著二三十匹馬，乘者都是囘人，高鼻深目，滿臉濃鬚，頭纒白布，腰懸彎刀。

只见数十匹骆驼夹着二三十匹马，乘者都是回人，高鼻深目，满脸浓须，头缠白布，腰悬弯刀。

1999, 瓊瑤, 還珠格格第二部, episode 5, spoken by 香妃 (刘丹):

我是回人，[…]

(dated in Mainland China) Muslim; anything related to Islam


坐

→ Ai-Cham: zai⁶

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 留 (“to stay”) + 土 (“ground”).
Sino-Tibetan; cognate with Tangut 𗶠 (*dzu̱², “to sit”), Japhug amdzɯ (“to sit”) (Jacques, 2014; Zhang, Jacques, and Lai, 2019).

𡋲
𡊎
㘴
㘸
𡋐
𠱯
𡉡
𰉗
𭍻

坐鎮

坐镇

to uphold; to fight until the end without giving up


孕

Pictogram (象形) – a pregnant woman with a fetus.
Compare 盈 (OC *leŋ, “to fill; full, surplus”) (STEDT).


妓

Bahnaric languages#North_Bahnaric
Cao Wei
Jin dynasty
Shuowen Jiezi
Waic languages

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kre, *ɡreʔ): semantic 女 + phonetic 支 (OC *kje).
Attested earliest in Shuowen Jiezi and Wèi-Jìn period's literature (possible pronunciations *kɨe or *gɨeX); a hypohetical OC form would be *kre (Schuessler, 2007).
Apparently loaned from Vietic (ancient 越 (yuè) in southern China). Compare Proto-Vietic *-keːʔ (“woman, female”) (whence Vietnamese cái (“female”) & gái (“girl, female”)), elsewhere in Mon-Khmer, Proto-Waic *krih girl", Proto-North-Bahnaric *kdri: "female". Alternatively, Wang (1982) relates this to 技 (jì, “skill”), yet this may be folk etymology (ibid.).
Schuessler also points to other foreign words which meant "woman, girl" yet referred to women of low social standing in ancient China; e.g. 嬖 (bì), 嬯 (tái) (ibid.).

Han compound

(literary) female entertainer; female performer of song and dance


姪

/t͡sɐt̚²⁻³⁵/

/t͡sit̚³²⁻³²⁵/

/t͡sɐt̚²⁻³⁵/

/t͡sit̚³²⁻³²⁵/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *diːɡ, *diɡ): semantic 女 (“woman”) + phonetic 至 (OC *tjiɡs).
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *b/m-ləj (“grandchild; nephew”) + *-t (“nominalizing final”). Cognate with Burmese မြေး (mre:, “grandchild”).

inh

child of a (male) friend in the same generation


姐

q

→ Thai: เจ๊ (jée, “older sister”) / เจ้ (jêe, “older sister”) (said by Chinese race; now more general)

/t͡ɕi̯ɛɻ²¹⁴/

/t͡sɛː³⁵⁻⁵⁵/

/t͡sɛː³⁵⁻²¹/

/t͡ɕi̯ɛɻ²¹⁴/

/t͡sɛː³⁵⁻⁵⁵/

/t͡sɛː³⁵⁻²¹/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ʔsjaːʔ): semantic 女 (“woman”) + phonetic 且 (OC *sʰjaːʔ, *ʔsa).

Han compound

>< - face-to-face; <> - non-face-to-face

(dialectal) mother (According to Xu Shen, this meaning was used in the ancient State of Shu: "蜀謂母曰姐")


孩

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡɯː): semantic 子 + phonetic 亥 (OC *ɡɯːʔ).
Smith (2011) groups this word along with these items into a word family meaning “root, germ, generative core”:
* 荄 (OC *kɯː, “grassroot”), and its derivative 根 (OC *kɯːn, “root”),
* 核 (OC *ɡrɯːɡ, “germ, kernel”),
* 骸 (OC *ɡrɯː, “(human) bones”),
* 亥 (OC *ɡɯːʔ, “sprouting stage”), i.e. "the moon’s first appearance" > "twelfth earthly branch".
He suggests a derivation from 荄 (OC *kɯː) by voicing, glossing 孩 as “to sprout”; the derivation is not explained any further. However, this sense does not seem to be attested.


壞

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡruːls): semantic 土 (“earth”) + phonetic 褱 (OC *ɡruːl, *ɡruːl). The radical of the earth is used since something that rots eventually becomes earth.
Compare Tibetan འདྲུལ ('drul, “to become putrid/rotten”), Tibetan བྲུལ (brul, “crumbles”) (Hill, 2019).

cog

坏
坯
坏
獪
乖
契
蒯

壞人

坏人

壞習慣

坏习惯


始

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (始):
* → Japanese: 始(し) (shi)
* → Korean: 시(始) (si)
* → Vietnamese: thuỷ (始)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *hljɯʔ): semantic 女 (“woman”) + phonetic 台 (OC *l̥ʰɯː, *l'ɯː, *l'ɯː, *lɯ).


嫗

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *qos): semantic 女 (“woman”) + phonetic 區 (OC *qoː, *kʰo).
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ʔu (“egg; bird”). Cognate with Burmese ဥ (u., “egg; tuber”).
Pronunciation 1 is a departing tone derivation from pronunciation 2, literally "the one who is breeding" (Schuessler, 2007). Schuessler additionally adduces the following words as part of the same word family:
* 蓲 (OC *qoː, *kʰu, *qo, *qos, “to brood, hatch eggs”)
* 燠 (OC *quːʔ, *quːɡs, *quɡ, “warm, sweltering”)


妾

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (妾):
* → Japanese: 妾(しょう) (shō)
* → Korean: 첩(妾) (cheop)
* → Vietnamese: thiếp (妾)

/t͡sʰi̯e̞²⁴/

/t͡ɕʰi̯e̞²⁴/

/t͡sʰi̯e̞²⁴/

/t͡ɕʰi̯e̞²⁴/

Uncertain.
Possibly a pictogram (象形) of a woman with a headdress. Cognate to 女 with 辛 on top, though in the modern form the headdress has simplified to unrelated 立.
Alternatively, may be an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 辛 (“torture device”) + 女 (“woman”) – female criminal.
Cognate to 捷 (OC *zeb, “victory; booty”) (Schuessler, 2007). See there for more.

Han compound

The first injunction in their agreement was, "Slay the unfilial; change not the son who has been appointed heir; exalt not a concubine to be the wife."

Chū mìng yuē: “Zhū bùxiào, wú yì shùzǐ, wú yǐ qiè wèi qī.”

初命曰：「誅不孝，無易樹子，無以妾為妻。」

初命曰：「诛不孝，无易树子，无以妾为妻。」


媒

→ Vietnamese: mai (“matchmaker”)

/muːi̯²¹⁻³⁵/

/muːi̯²¹⁻³⁵/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *mɯː): semantic 女 (“woman”) + phonetic 某 (OC *mɯʔ).

Han compound

紙媒／纸媒


婦

desctree

→? Proto-Vietic: *-bəːʔ
Viet-Muong:
Muong: bợ, vợ
Middle Vietnamese: 𡞕 (ꞗợ), 𡢼 (ꞗợ)
Vietnamese: vợ

Characters in the same phonetic series (帚) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Two possibilities:
* Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *bɯʔ): semantic 女 (“woman”) + phonetic 帚 (OC *pjuʔ), as supported by the latest Old Chinese reconstructions; or
* Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 女 (“woman”) + 帚 (“broom”) – a woman with a broom.
Compare Tibetan བག་མ (bag ma, “bride”) (Hill, 2019).

Han compound

夫婦

夫妇

You have your own wife, Prefect, Luofu has her own husband!

陌上桑 (日出東南隅行) "Ballad about Sunrise at the southeast corner", included in New Songs from the Jade Terrace (玉臺新詠) [circa 6th century]. Translated by Anne Birrell

使君自有婦，羅敷自有夫！

使君自有妇，罗敷自有夫！


失

Characters in the same phonetic series (失) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Pictogram (象形) depicting a footprint of someone that has fallen surrounded by drops of blood (Ji Xusheng, 2004).
Alternatively, according to Shuowen, Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 手 + 乙 — something falling from a hand (手). However, the original form doesn't show any hand.
Cognate with 佚 (OC *liɡ, “to escape; to lose”), 逸 (OC *lid, “to escape; at ease”) (Schuessler, 2007).
Probably Sino-Tibetan; compare Cogtse Situ [Term?] (ka-ʃlə̂k, “to fall (from hand)”), Japhug ɕlɯɣ (“to fall; to slip”) (Zhang, Jacques, and Lai, 2019).
Note also Thai เล็ดลอด (lét-lɔ̂ɔt, “to sneak; to escape by stealth”) (Manomaivibool, 1975).

cog

75th tetragram of the Taixuanjing; "failure" (𝍐)


土

Characters in the same phonetic series (土) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Pictogram (象形): a lump of clay either on the ground or on a potter’s wheel. See the bottom part of the original version of 生 and 丰. Then, the lump of clay was stylized as a vertical stroke with a black dot in the middle perhaps to avoid confusion with other characters. Eventually, the black dot turned into a short horizontal stroke. Compare the top part of 土 with the ancient version of 十, which is a vertical stroke with a black dot in the middle.
Unrelated to the top component of 夌, 走, and 周; also unrelated to the central component of 金 and the overall character 圭.
There is no obvious cognate and etymology, unless it may be related to Proto-Austroasiatic *tiʔ (Proto-Monic *tiiʔ (“soil; ground consisting of earth”), Semnam tɛʔ (“soil; earth”)). However, this would require the assumption of a shift from front vowel to Old Chinese *a (Schuessler, 2007).
Probably related to 社 (OC *ɦljaːʔ, “god of soil; altar to god of soil”).

och-l

土堆

這兒的土夠肥的。

这儿的土够肥的。

俄土戰爭

俄土战争


季

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 禾 + 子.
Etymology not clear (Schuessler, 2007).

雨季

淡季


妃

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (妃):
* → Japanese: 妃(ひ) (hi)
* → Korean: 비(妃) (bi)
* → Vietnamese: phi (妃)

→ Manchu: ᡶᡝᡳ (fei)

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 女 (“woman”) + 卩 (“a kneeling man”).
Probably related to 配 (OC *pʰɯːds, “to match”) (Wang, 1982).


埃

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *qlɯː): semantic 土 (“earth; soil”) + phonetic 矣 (OC *ɢlɯʔ).

Han compound

Obsolete. 皮 is used for SI prefix pico-.

(obsolete) the number 10⁻¹⁰; one ten-billionth


墨

→ Buryat: бэхэ (bexe, “ink”)

→ Indonesian: bak

→ Javanese: ꦧꦏ꧀ (bak)

→ Khmer: មឹក (mɨk, “squid; ink”)

→ Korean: 먹 (meok)

desc

→ Lao: ມຶກ (mưk, “ink; black”), ໝຶກ (mưk, “sepia from cuttlefish; ink; black”)

→ Mongolian: бэх (bex, “ink”)

→ Sogdian: 𐼺𐼸𐼰 (mkʾ /*makā/, “ink”)

→ Thai: หมึก (mʉ̀k, “ink”), ปลาหมึก (bplaa-mʉ̀k, “cuttlefish”)

→ Vietnamese: mực (“cuttlefish; ink”)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *mlɯːɡ): phonetic 黑 (OC *hmlɯːɡ) + semantic 土 (“soil”).
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-maŋ ~ s-mak. Cognate with 黑 (OC *hmlɯːɡ, “black”).


威

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 戌 + 女.
畏 (OC *quls, “to fear”) is the exoactive derivation of 威 (OC *qul, “to overawe”), literally "to be intimidated" (Schuessler, 2007). In early writing, the character for 畏 was sometimes used directly as a substitute of 威 (wēi) (e.g. in the Da Yu ding inscription).
鬼 (OC *kulʔ, “ghost”) is a derivation (Baxter and Sagart, 1998).


姑

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kaː): semantic 女 (“woman”) + phonetic 古 (OC *kaːʔ) – a type of woman (aunt, mother-in-law).

Han compound

† - father's elder sister; ‡ - father's younger sister; § - married; ≠ - unmarried; ¶ - face-to-face; ∅ - non-face-to-face


尷

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kreːm): semantic 尢 + phonetic 監 (OC *kraːm, *kraːms).

Han compound

(Hong Kong Cantonese, neologism) Short for 尷尬.


委

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *qrol, *qrolʔ): phonetic 禾 (OC *ɡoːl) + semantic 女 (in the oracle bones inscriptions, there was 𠃊 instead of a woman kneeling).

Han compound

Short for 委員／委员 (wěiyuán, “committee member”).

Short for 委員會／委员会 (wěiyuánhuì, “committee”).


宜

Originally a pictogram (象形) or ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 且 (“sacrifical altar”) + 多 (“two pieces of meat”) – two pieces of sacrificial meat placed in a sacrifical altar.
Cognate with 儀 (OC *ŋral, “ceremony; appearance”). See there for more.


和

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡoːl, *ɡoːls): phonetic 禾 (OC *ɡoːl) + semantic 口 (“mouth”) – harmony.
; “and; with”
; “Japanese”

Han compound

和牌


孟

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *mraːŋs): semantic 子 (“child; son”) + phonetic 皿 (OC *maŋʔ)
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *maŋ (“big; old; elder (brother, uncle)”); cognate with Anong ʈhi³¹ mɑŋ³¹ (“old; elderly”), Drung tvmvng (“elder sibling”), Burmese မင်း (mang:, “monarch; king”) (Schuessler, 2007; STEDT).
Likely related to 兄 (OC *hmraŋ, “older brother”) (Sagart, 1999; STEDT). Perhaps also related to 芒 (OC *maːŋ, *maŋ, “great; extensive”) and 荒 (OC *hmaːŋ, *hmaːŋs, “vast; excessive; senile”) (Sagart, 1999; Schuessler, 2007).

och-l

eldest brother (also used in personal names)

Short for 孟子 (Mèngzǐ, “Mencius; Mencius (book)”).

Short for 孟加拉 (Mèngjiālā, “Bangladesh”).


尹

A hand holding a rod, similar to 事 and 支.

𢁨
𪱛
𢂟
𢂫
𢂬
𢂭
𢃁
𢃂
𢃵
𢃹

Yin Zhiping (famous Jin and Yuan Dynasty Taoist philosopher)

尹志平


寨

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *zraːds, *slɯːɡ) and ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): phonetic 𡨄 (, “to block; to block up; to jam; to plug”) + semantic 木 (“wood”).


寇

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) - a person who holds a stick (卜) with his hand (又), about to beat the head (元) of another person, under the other persons own roof (宀). In Oracle bone script, two hands are holding the stick. In modern form, 卜 and 又 have merged into one character (攴), and is partially surrounded by 元.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *r-kəw ~ hu (“to steal”). Compare Tibetan རྐུ (rku, “to steal”) and Burmese ခိုး (hkui:, “to steal”).

inh

宼
冦
㓂
窛
𡨥
𡯷
𢽉
𥦆
𥦲
𭁵

The mountain, by its trees, plunders itself. The oil, being combustible, evaporates itself.

Zhuangzi, circa 3ʳᵈ – 2ⁿᵈ centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

山木自寇也，膏火自煎也。


口

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (口):
* → Japanese: 口(く) (ku); 口(こう) (kō)
* → Korean: 구(口) (gu)
* → Vietnamese: khẩu (口)

Pictogram (象形) – resembles an open mouth.
In the oracle bone script, radical 口 is used for characters having abstract meanings. Such a character can have a figurative meaning derived from the phonetic part, e.g. 右 (OC *ɢʷɯʔ, *ɢʷɯs, “right”) = 又 (OC *ɢʷɯs, “right hand”) + 口 and 𪪺 (“strong; powerful”) = 弓 (OC *kʷɯŋ, “bow”) + 口, or be an unrelated borrowing, e.g. 否 (OC *brɯʔ, *pɯʔ, “no”) = 不 (OC *pɯ, *pɯʔ, *pɯ', “calyx”) + 口.
See also 亼, 甘, 齒, 曰, 四, 廿, 只, and 欠.
Similar but unrelated to the bottom part of 由 and 缶 in their original form. Similar but unrelated to 囗, the original version of 丁 and some ancient variants of 天 on oracle bones.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ku(w) (“mouth”). Cognate with Garo ku·sik (“mouth”), Tangut 𗋈 (*ŋwu², “mouth”).

三口之家

Classifier for family members, populations, livestock. ⇒ all nouns using this classifier


存

/t͡sʰu̯ən³⁵/

/t͡sʰu̯ən³⁵/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *zluːn): phonetic 才 (OC *zlɯː, *zlɯːs) + semantic 子.
Possibly the demonstrative *-n derivation from 在 (OC *zlɯːʔ) (Schuessler, 2007).


婆

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *baːl): phonetic 波 (OC *paːl) + semantic 女 (“woman”).
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *pʷa-n ~ *bʷa-n (“grandmother”). Cognate with Burmese ဘွား (bhwa:, “grandmother”) (STEDT).

inh

(ACG, neologism) Short for 老婆 (lǎopo, “waifu”)


屺

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kʰɯʔ): semantic 山 (“mountain; hill”) + phonetic 己 (OC *kɯʔ).

Han compound

I ascend that bare hill,
And look towards [the residence of] my mother.

陟彼屺兮，瞻望母兮。


媚

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *mrils): semantic 女 + phonetic 眉 (OC *mril).


塊

Jerry Norman reconstructs Common Min *tɔi⁵ based on the coastal Min forms; it is unclear how the Northern Min forms relate to the Coastal Min forms. Possibly from 段 (OC *doːns, “section; segment”); compare 短 (OC *toːnʔ, “short”) > Xiamen Hokkien té (Coblin, n.d.).

块
凷
墤
㙕
𠚛
𡒽
圦
𡉇


嫩

Corrupted form of 㜛.
Unclear. Possibly as variant of 耎 (OC) ~ 輭 (OC *nonʔ); alternatively, related to Burmese နုန့် (nun., “weak, exhausted from illness”), yet this meaning barely overlaps with "soft to touch" (Schuessler, 2007).


孝

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 耂 (“an old man with long hair, bent over”) + 子 (“a child”) – an old man and a child, filial piety between generations. Compare top component to 老 (OC *ruːʔ, “old”).

孝義

devotion to one's parents and loyalty to one's friends


嬸

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *hljɯmʔ): semantic 女 (“woman”) + phonetic 審 (OC *hljɯmʔ).
Monosyllabic fusion of 叔母 (MC syuwk muwX, “father's younger brother + wife”).

ltc-l

paternal aunt (wife of father's younger brother)


姓

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (姓):
* → Japanese: 姓(せい) (sei)
* → Korean: 성(姓) (seong)
* → Vietnamese: tính (姓)

→ Khmer: សែ (sae)

→ Thai: แซ่ (sɛ̂ɛ)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *sleŋs): semantic 女 (“woman; female”) + phonetic 生 (OC *sʰleːŋ, *sreŋs).
Specialised form of 性 (xìng): “human nature; what is inborn” > “surname; clan name”.

Han compound

你的姓怎麼拼寫？

你的姓怎么拼写？

您貴姓？

您贵姓？

Coordinate term: 名 (míng)


奶

/naːi̯¹³⁻⁵⁵/

/naːi̯¹³⁻⁵⁵/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *rneːlʔ): semantic 女 + phonetic 乃 (OC *nɯːʔ).
Unknown.
Similar words in the area include Proto-Hmong-Mien *niaʔ²ᴰ (“mother”), Tibetan ཨ་ནེ (a ne), ནེ་ནེ (ne ne, “paternal aunt”), Khmer ញី (ñii, “female”). It may be comparable with Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-nja-n (“breast; milk; suck”), whence Nuosu ꑍ (nyip, “liquid milk”), ꀉꆂ (ax nie, “breast; milk”).
It is unknown how the Min forms relate to forms in other dialects. See this article for a discussion of the Min Nan etymon. For similar nasalisations in Min, compare 耳 (ěr).
Colloquial words in different Min dialects show considerable variation – most have an n- initial, but finals and tones differ greatly. Some propose that this is substrate influence, passed on from the maternal Baiyue lineages since the intermarriages between southward-migrating Han Chinese and native non-Han women. Other southern dialects also show remnants of this native word: Hakka [Meixian] nɛn⁵, Cantonese [Guangzhou] nin¹ (𢆡). Compare Thai นม (nom, “breast; breastmilk”), Zhuang noemz (“breast; breastmilk”).
The long-recognised Sino-Tibetan etymon in Chinese is 乳 (OC *njoʔ); see there for more.

cog

奶頭／奶头

Real or fake, all breasts are breasts; you're cool regardless of whether you have a dick

2020 October 30, a slogan used in the 2020 Taiwan Trans-March

zhēn nǎi jiǎ nǎi dōu shì nǎi, yǒu diǎo méi diǎo dōu hěn diǎo

真奶假奶都是奶，有屌沒屌都很屌

真奶假奶都是奶，有屌没屌都很屌

奶奶


屢

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ros): semantic 尸 + phonetic 婁 (OC *ɡ·roː, *ɡ·ro).


嬉

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *qʰlɯ, *qʰlɯs): semantic 女 + phonetic 喜 (OC *qʰlɯʔ). Also an ideogramic compound, as the right radical means "joy".


尬

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kreːds): semantic 尢 + phonetic 介 (OC *kreːds).

Han compound

(neologism, Mainland China, Taiwan, slang) Short for 尷尬／尴尬 (gāngà).


場

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *l'aŋ): semantic 土 (“earth”) + phonetic 昜 (OC *laŋ).
Etymology not certain; perhaps related to Tibetan ར་བ (ra ba, “enclosure; fence; wall; yard”) and 宁 (OC *da, *daʔ, “space between the door and the entrance screen”) (Schuessler, 2007).

och-l

農貿市場

农贸市场

運動場

运动场

戰場

战场

open space; field; market; large place used for a specific purpose

死場／死场 [Hong Kong Cantonese] ― sei² coeng⁴ [Jyutping] ― shopping centre with little customers

(Hong Kong Cantonese) Short for 商場／商场 (“mall; shopping centre”).


場

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (場):
* → Japanese: 場(じょう) (jō)
* → Korean: 장(場) (jang)
* → Vietnamese: trường (場)

level open space (often as a threshing floor)


嬰

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 賏 (“a string of shells”) + 女 (“woman”).
Probably related to 縈 (OC *qʷeŋ, “to entwine”) (Schuessler, 2007).


宣

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *sqʰon): semantic 宀 (“roof”) + phonetic 亘 (). The character originally represented the main hall where the emperor resided. By extension, it came to be used to mean "clear" or "evident."

Han compound

宣言

宣誓

(literary or in compounds) to declare; to announce; to proclaim

(archaic) to command (from a sovereign to a subject)

(literary) to spread; to diffuse; to circulate

to spread; to diffuse; to circulate
widespread; in wide circulation

Because her relatives were lowly, he did not want to impregnate her. He ejaculated on the sleeping mat. The lady then absorbed this [into her genitals]. She consequently became pregnant and gave birth to a son.

I cheuk mi bul yok yusin, seon u chimseok, hu jeuk heup ji, su yousin saengja.

以側微不欲有娠，宣于寢席，后卽吸之，遂有娠生子。

to spread; to diffuse; to circulate
to drain (liquid)

(Internet slang) to like (contraction of 喜歡／喜欢 (xǐhuan))


崋

Alternative form of 華／华, the name of Mount Hua (mountain in Shaanxi province)


多

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (多):
* → Japanese: 多(た) (ta)
* → Korean: 다(多) (da)
* → Vietnamese: đa (多)

→? Proto-Hlai: *hləːy

→? Proto-Tai: *ʰlaːjᴬ

Characters in the same phonetic series (多) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) – two pieces of meat (肉). In the bronze script, 肉 was corrupted into 夕 due to visual similarity, making 多 into a duplication of 夕. The form with 夕 was inherited in later scripts.
Chi (2010) suggests that meat is scarce in ancient times, so two pieces of meat is a lot, citing a passage from Mencius:
:
Chang Ping-chuan suggests that it is the duplicative nature of the character that gives the meaning of "many", just like in 林 (“forest”), from 木 (“tree; wood”).
Etymology unclear. Schuessler (2007) suggests that it is in the same word family as 諸 (OC *tjaː, *tja, “many; all”) and 庶 (OC *hljaɡs, “many”).
Hill (2014, 2019) compares it to Tibetan ཆེ (che, “big”), མཐེ་བོ (mthe bo, “thumb”), Burmese တယ် (tai, “very”). STEDT derives the latter two from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ta-j (“big”), whose Chinese comparandum is 大 (OC *daːds, “large”) instead; Baxter (1992) has also compared it to this etymon.
Baxter and Sagart (1998) propose that there may be a prefix *t- in this word that gives a mass noun reading, which may nullify the connection to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ta-j (“big”). However, Baxter and Sagart (2014) may have withdrawn from this theory since they no longer indicate the *t as a prefix.
Also compare Proto-Tai *ʰlaːjᴬ (“many, much”), whence Thai หลาย (lǎai, “many”) and Zhuang lai (“many”), and Proto-Hlai *hləːy (“many”) (Gong Qunhu, 2002; Schuessler, 2007; Baxter and Sagart, 2014). Schuessler (2007) considers the Chinese word to be from Kra-Dai, but others suggest that the direction of borrowing may have been the other way (Li, 1977; Baxter and Sagart, 1998; Norquest, 2007).

Han etyl

七十者可以食肉矣。

He bought four tickets, which was one too many.

Tā mǎi le sì zhāng piào, duō le yī zhāng.

他買了四張票，多了一張。

他买了四张票，多了一张。

屋企多咗一個人。

屋企多咗一个人。

to have more; to have too much; to have too many


宋

Cao Wei
Chen dynasty
Eastern Han dynasty
Eastern Wei
Eastern Wu
Eastern Zhou dynasty
Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms
Han dynasty
Jin dynasty (1115–1234)
Jin dynasty (265–420)
Liang dynasty
Liao dynasty
Liu Song dynasty
Ming dynasty
Northern Qi
Northern Wei
Northern Zhou
Northern and Southern dynasties
Qin dynasty
Qing dynasty
Shang dynasty
Shu Han
Song dynasty
Southern Qi
Southern and Northern dynasties
Spring and Autumn period
Sui dynasty
Tang dynasty
Three Kingdoms
Warring States period
Western Han dynasty
Western Liao
Western Wei
Western Xia
Western Zhou dynasty
Xia dynasty
Xin dynasty
Yuan dynasty
Zhou dynasty

→ English: Song, Sung, Soong

Characters in the same phonetic series (宋) (Zhengzhang, 2003)

(～朝) Song dynasty of China (960–1279), reigning from the end of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms to the beginning of the Yuan


岑

Cén fūzǐ, Dānqiū shēng, jiāng jìn jiǔ, bēi mò tíng.

岑夫子，丹丘生，將進酒，杯莫停。

岑夫子，丹丘生，将进酒，杯莫停。


宇

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɢʷaʔ): semantic 宀 (“house”) + phonetic 于 (OC *ɢʷa)
;"eaves" > "abode, estate, territory"
;"space"
;universe

Han compound

High halls and deep bowers, with railings and tiered balconies

The Verses of Chu, 4ᵗʰ century BCE – 2ⁿᵈ century CE, translated based on David Hawkes' version

高堂邃宇，檻層軒些。

高堂邃宇，槛层轩些。

I'd like to ride the wind and return, yet I fear the majestic towers and magnificent mansions, the high places where it's unbearably cold.

蘇軾 Su Shi, lyrics to《水調歌頭》"Water Melody", [1076, mid-autumn].

Wǒ yù chéng fēng guīqù, yòu kǒng qiónglóu yùyǔ, gāochù bùshèng hán.

我欲乘風歸去，又恐瓊樓玉宇，高處不勝寒。

我欲乘风归去，又恐琼楼玉宇，高处不胜寒。

house, chamber, bower; building, structure


寵

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *r̥ʰoŋʔ): semantic 宀 + phonetic 龍 (OC *b·roŋ, *mroːŋ)

Han compound

愛寵／爱宠

萌寵／萌宠

異寵／异宠

(used in compounds) Short for 寵物／宠物 (chǒngwù, “pet”).


寅

Originally an ideogram (指事): an arrow 矢 wih a distinguishing mark (now 日).
In the modern form the arrowhead has corrupted into 宀.
; 3rd earthly branch
: Association with the tiger was possibly arbitrary, just like 辰 (chén) with the dragon (see Ferlus, 2013)

When (sovereign and ministers show) a common reverence and united respect for these, lo! the moral nature (of the people) is made harmonious.

The Book of Documents, circa 4ᵗʰ – 3ʳᵈ century BCE

同寅協恭和衷哉！

同寅协恭和衷哉！


宅

/t͡saːk̚²⁻³⁵/

/t͡saːk̚²⁻³⁵/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *r'aːɡ): semantic 宀 (“roof”) + phonetic 乇 (OC *ʔr'aːɡ).
; slang: Ultimately from an orthographic borrowing from Japanese お宅 (otaku); this sense developed from the influence of its orthography.

Han compound

(slang) Someone who prefers to stay at home rather than go outside; a homebody


嫌

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡeːm): semantic 女 (“woman”) + phonetic 兼 (OC *keːm, *keːms).

隨

of a parent in appearance or disposition

(literary, or in compounds) suspicion (the state of being suspected)


峨

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ŋaːl): semantic 山 (“mountain”) + phonetic 我 (OC *ŋaːlʔ).


奴

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 女 (“woman”) + 又 (“hand”) – a hand capturing and ordering a woman around. 女 (OC *naʔ, *nas) may also be phonetic.
Some oracle bone script forms (not depicted above) are pictographic (象形), showing a person (probably a woman) with hands crossed at the back, as opposed to 女 which depicts a woman clasping her hands in front of the body.
Uncertain.
*Possibly cognate with Mru nar (“servant”) & Awa-Khumi Chin tana (Löffler, 1960);
*Ferlus (1999) relates this to 女 (OC *naʔ), which has semantic parallel, especially among foreign loans (e.g. 嬯 (OC *dɯː, “servant, slave woman”) which is possibly from Austroasiatic).
* Unger (1990) groups 奴 (OC *naː) as well as 努 (OC *naːʔ, “to tense, to exert”), 弩 (OC *naːʔ, “crossbow”), & 怒 (OC *naːs, “angry”), in a word-family with the basic meaning "tense", hence 奴 (OC *naː)'s meaning "press into service".

白光 (báiguāng)《嘆十聲》

diēniáng shēngxià nú jiù méiyǒu zhàoguǎn

爹娘生下奴就沒有照管

白光 (báiguāng)《嘆十聲》

爹娘生下奴就没有照管


寄

→ Vietnamese: gửi

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *krals): semantic 宀 (“house”) + phonetic 奇 (OC *kral, *ɡral) ― living away from home.
;"to commit to one's charge" (Lunyu), "to entrust, communicate" (Liji), > "send (a letter)"
;"translator, interpreter" > "an alternate name used for the Dongyi tribes during the Ming Dynasty"


崔

/t͡sʰu̯eɪ̯⁵⁵/

/t͡sʰu̯eɪ̯⁵⁵/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *zluːl, *sʰluːl): semantic 山 (“mountain”) + phonetic 隹 (OC *tjul).

Han compound

Daniel Chee Tsui (Chinese-born American physicist and Nobel laureate)

崔琦


導

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *duːs): phonetic 道 (OC *l'uːʔ, “path”) + semantic 寸 (“hand”) – to lead someone.
Cognate with 道 (OC *l'uːʔ, “road”).

Han compound

to direct; to guide; to lead; to conduct


岫

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ljɯwɢs): semantic 山 (“mountain”) + phonetic 由 (OC *lɯw).

Han compound

(Southern Min) nest, den or lair of animals


專

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (專):
* → Vietnamese: chuyên (專)

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) and phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *tjon): phonetic 叀 (, “spindle”) + semantic 又 (“hand”) – a hand turning a spindle or spinning wheel. Originally also written 叀.
The 又 was later replaced by related 寸.


岡

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *klaːŋ): phonetic 网 (OC *mlaŋʔ) + semantic 山 (“mountain”).
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-gaŋ (“hill, ridge, mountain”) (STEDT, Schuessler, 2007), cognate with Tibetan སྒང (sgang, “ridge; mound”), Burmese ခင် (hkang, “ridge”), Burmese အခေါင် (a.hkaung, “summit”), Lahu qhɔ³³ (“mountain”), Puroik gɹaŋ³³ (“mountain”), Proto-Tamangic *ᴬgaŋ ("hill, mountain").
STEDT also proposes cognacy with 京 (OC *kraŋ, “artificial mound, capital”) and 鯨 (OC *ɡraŋ, “whale”).


塵

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 鹿 (“deer”) + 土 (“soil, dust”) – cloud of dust produced by a (group of) running deer. Ancient simplification of 𪋻, which pictures three deer on top instead of one.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *r-dul ~ r-tul (“dust”). Cognate with Tibetan རྡུལ (rdul, “dust, particle”).


展

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *tenʔ, *tens): semantic 尸 + abbreviated phonetic 𧝑 (), which has a variant 𧝣; the original version is 㞡. The phonetic component is a reference to fine red silk clothes, one of the six garments worn by the queen in the Rites of Zhou, and it contains as well a reference to the concept of "opening, extending; watch carefully" in the component 㠭.
Similar but unrelated to 昔 and 共.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *r-dal (“spread; extend; develop”) (STEDT).

inh

to give free play to; to display freely (abilities, etc.)


峭

/t͡ɕʰi̯ɑʊ̯⁵¹/

/t͡sʰiːu̯³³/

/t͡ɕʰi̯ɑʊ̯⁵¹/

/t͡sʰiːu̯³³/

Originally Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *sʰews): semantic 阜 (“soil mountain”) + phonetic 肖 (OC *slew, *slews), later Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *sʰews): semantic 山 (“mountain”) + phonetic 肖 (OC *slew, *slews).
Cognate with Burmese စောက် (cauk, “steep, depth”). Compare also with Burmese စက် (cak, “severe, chilly”).

Han compound

陡峭

sheer precipices and overhanging rocks; perilous cliffs and precipices

懸崖峭壁

悬崖峭壁


宰

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 宀 (“house”) + 䇂.
In the modern form, contains 辛 instead.

宰殺

宰杀

宰了一頭豬

宰了一头猪


寫

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *sjaːʔ): semantic 宀 + phonetic 舄 (OC *sʰjaːɡ, *sʰaɡ, *sjaːɡ, *sjaːɡ).

Han compound

写
㝍
冩
⿱宀舃
𧭠
䥱

2018, 李雅言 [Louis Lee], 十八小時環遊世界, Hong Kong: The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press, →ISBN, page 51:

For the one who doesn't understand German, can you figure out what the menu is saying?

Bùdǒng Déwén de nǐ, néng cāichū cānpái xiě de shì shénme ma?

不懂德文的你，能猜出餐牌寫的是甚麼嗎？

不懂德文的你，能猜出餐牌写的是什么吗？

2021, 默颺, 我專門幫人擺分手和頭酒, Hong Kong: 白卷出版社, →ISBN, page 139:

The paper was full of Kelly's notes, and in the school magazine, there was a class photo of the class I was in. On some people's heads, it read "Found"; beside some of them, it read "Au-suet's good friend, but went to Australia". Anyhow, there were different comments for different people, and beside Au-suet's photo, she drew a big question mark, and it read "Big secret? Hurt?".

zi² soeng⁶ min⁶ se² mun⁵ Kelly ge³ bat¹ gei³, ji⁴ haau⁶ hon² jap⁶ min⁶ jau⁵ ngo⁵ dong¹ nin⁴ duk⁶ go² baan¹ ge³ baan¹ soeng³⁻², jau⁵ di¹ jan⁴ tau⁴ soeng⁶ min⁶ se² zyu⁶ “wan² zo²”, jau⁵ di¹ zak¹ bin¹ se² zo² “au¹ syut³ hou² pang⁴ jau⁵, daan⁶ heoi³ zo² ou³ zau¹”, zung² zi¹ m⁴ tung⁴ jan⁴ dou¹ jau⁵ m⁴ tung⁴ ge³ zyu³ gaai², ji⁴ au¹ syut³ zoeng¹ soeng³⁻² gaak³ lei⁴ waak⁶ zo² jat¹ go³ daai⁶ man⁶ hou⁶, se² zyu⁶ “daai⁶ bei³ mat⁶? soeng¹ hoi⁶?”.

紙上面寫滿Kelly嘅筆記，而校刊入面有我當年讀嗰班嘅班相，有啲人頭上面寫住「搵咗」，有啲側邊寫咗「歐雪好朋友，但去咗澳洲」，總之唔同人都有唔同嘅註解，而歐雪張相隔籬畫咗一個大問號，寫住「大祕密？傷害？」。

纸上面写满Kelly嘅笔记，而校刊入面有我当年读嗰班嘅班相，有啲人头上面写住「揾咗」，有啲侧边写咗「欧雪好朋友，但去咗澳洲」，总之唔同人都有唔同嘅注解，而欧雪张相隔篱画咗一个大问号，写住「大秘密？伤害？」。

to read; to say (to consist of certain text; to indicate in written form)


屐

→ Thai: เกี๊ยะ (gía)

Shuowen: Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡreɡ): abbreviated semantic 履 (“shoe”) + phonetic 支 (OC *kje).

Han compound

𡰸
𡰵
跂
𰍸
⿸尸𢪊
𭕞
𡲆

(Classical, Cantonese, Hakka or Min) clogs; wooden shoes


奇

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kral, *ɡral): semantic 大 (“big; great”) + phonetic 可 (OC *kʰaːlʔ).


嵌

/t͡ɕʰi̯ɛn⁵¹/

/t͡ɕʰi̯ɛn⁵⁵/

/t͡ɕʰi̯ɛn⁵¹/

/t͡ɕʰi̯ɛn⁵⁵/

to inlay; to embed; to imbed; to fix deeply and firmly


寬

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kʰoːn): semantic 宀 (“house”) + phonetic 萈 (OC *ɡoːn, “goat”)—a spacious house.
See also 家.
Note similarities to Burmese ခွင့် (hkwang., “permission, rights”).

cog

這條新修的馬路很寬。

这条新修的马路很宽。

寬寬仔

宽宽仔

寬寬行

宽宽行


察

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *sʰreːd): semantic 宀 (“roof”) + phonetic 祭 (OC *ʔsreːds, *ʔsleds) – study carefully at home.

Han compound

晉察冀邊區

晋察冀边区


巔

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *tiːn): semantic 山 + phonetic 顛 (OC *tiːn, *tʰiːns).
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-tjaŋ (“upper part”). Cognate with 顛 (OC *tiːn, “top of the head”).


屑

Originally written 㞕.
Wang (1982) compares it to 細 (OC *snɯːls, “fine”), 碎 (OC *suːds, “shattered; fragmented”).

(literary, or in compounds) trifling; trivial


完

→ Vietnamese: vẹn

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɦŋoːn): semantic 宀 (“roof”) + phonetic 元 (OC *ŋon).


國

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (國):
* → Japanese: 国(こく) (koku)
* → Korean: 국(國) (guk)
* → Vietnamese: quốc (國)

→ Bouyei: guef

→ Khitan: 囯

→ Zhuang: guek

Characters in the same phonetic series (或) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kʷɯːɡ): semantic 囗 (“closure”) + phonetic 或 (OC *ɡʷɯːɡ).
The k-prefix derivation of 域 (OC *ɢʷrɯɡ, “boundary; territory”). Cognate with 閾 (OC *qʰʷrɯɡ, “threshold”) and 囿 (OC *ɢʷɯs, *ɡʷɯ, “park; garden”).
No obvious outside cognate exists. It may be related to Burmese ကွက် (kwak, “to be marked with a square or circular pattern; to be confined to a certain area”) (Schuessler, 2007).

cog-lite

国
囯
圀
囶
𡆿
囻
𡇅
䆐
戜
𤦂
囗
𡆸
𡆻
𡇎
𡇏
𡇕
𡈑
𢦾
𢧌
𤦒
或
𬪇
㕵
𠰧

國共內戰

国共内战

Short for 國民黨／国民党 (Guómíndǎng, “Kuomintang”).

你會說幾國語言？

你会说几国语言？

Classifier for countries (quasi-measure word).


地

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (地):
* → Japanese: 地(じ) (ji); 地(ち) (chi)
* → Korean: 지(地) (ji)
* → Vietnamese: địa (地)

→ Proto-Tai: *diːᴮ

Ahom: 𑜄𑜣 (tī)

Lao: ທີ່ (thī)

Lü: ᦑᦲᧈ (tii¹)

Northern Thai: ᨴᩦ᩵

Shan: တီႈ (tīi)

Thai: ที่ (tîi)

Zhuang: dih

Characters in the same phonetic series (也) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *l'els): semantic 土 (“earth”) + phonetic 也 (OC *laːlʔ).
Compare Tibetan གཞི (gzhi, “ground”), Burmese မ္လိယ် (ma.liy) (whence Burmese မြေ (mre, “earth; ground”)) (Hill, 2019).

Han compound

坔
埅
埊
𡍑
𨹛
𨻐
墬
𡏇
𠏂
𡑸
𡒿
𡒴
𡒰
𡓬
嶳
𪒉
𤅴
哋

叫天天不應，叫地地不靈／叫天天不应，叫地地不灵

jiào tiān tiān bù yìng, jiào dì dì bù líng

浮地

2023, “计算机抽象及相关技术” (chapter 1), in 王党辉, 安建峰, 张萌, 王继禾, transl., 计算机组成与设计：硬件/软件接口MIPS版（原书第6版）, translation of Computer Organization and Design: The Hardware/Software Interface, MIPS Edition, Sixth Edition by David A. Patterson, John L. Hennessy (in English), →ISBN, 功耗墙 (section 7), page 30:

Modern microprocessors use hundreds of pins just for power and ground! Similarly, multiple levels of chip interconnect are used solely for power and ground distribution to portions of the chip.

Xiàndài wēichùlǐqì tōngcháng shǐyòng jǐ bǎi ge guǎnjiǎo zuòwèi diànyuán hé dì! Tóngyàng, xīnpiàn de duō ge hùlián céngjí jǐnjǐn shì wèile jiějué xīnpiàn de diànyuán hé dì de fēnbù bǐlì wèntí.

現代微處理器通常使用幾百個管腳作為電源和地！同樣，芯片的多個互連層級僅僅是為了解決芯片的電源和地的分佈比例問題。

现代微处理器通常使用几百个管脚作为电源和地！同样，芯片的多个互连层级仅仅是为了解决芯片的电源和地的分布比例问题。

地日距離／地日距离 ― dì rì jùlí ― Earth–Sun distance

類地行星／类地行星

(only in compounds) Short for 地球 (Dìqiú, “Earth”).

地級市

地级市

(Mainland China) Short for 地區／地区 (dìqū, “prefecture”).


夕

Characters in the same phonetic series (夕) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Pictogram (象形) — moon crescent. Compare to its ancient variant 月.
Related to 汐 (OC *ljaːɡ, “evening tide”).
Schuessler (2007) suggests it is from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-r(j)ak (“day; full day; to spend the night”); cognate with Tibetan ཞག (zhag, “day (24 hours)”), Mizo riak (“to pass the night”), Jingpho [script needed] (jaʔ⁵⁵, “day (24 hours)”), Burmese ရက် (rak, “day (24 hours)”), Lahu há (“night; to pass the night”); may also be cognate with 宿 (OC *suɡs, *suɡ, “to spend the night”) and 昔 (OC *sjaːɡ, “former times”). It is noted that in the oracle bone script, the 24 hour day started and ended some time in the evening or night. Since 日 (rì, “sun”) has acquired the meaning of "day (24 hours)", 夕 was then restricted to the time of the day's end.
On the other hand, STEDT suggests 夕 (OC *ljaːɡ, “evening; night”) was derived from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ja-n (“night”), from which 夜 (OC *laːɡs, “night”) was also derived. However, 夕 was also compared to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-r(j)ak (“day; full day; to spend the night”). Schuessler (2007) assigns Chinese 夜 (yè) to *ja (“night”) instead, and notes *ja (“night”) and *ryak (“day (24 hours)”) were kept strictly separate in Tibeto-Burman.

och-l

Woe to us soldiers on these expeditions! Morning and evening we have no rest.

哀我征夫、朝夕不暇。

What night is tonight, that I take a boat into the stream? What day is today, that I get to share a boat with a prince?

Jīnxī hé xī xī, qiān zhōu zhōngliú. Jīnrì hérì xī, dé yǔ wángzǐ tóng zhōu.

今夕何夕兮，搴舟中流。今日何日兮，得與王子同舟。

今夕何夕兮，搴舟中流。今日何日兮，得与王子同舟。

GT - General Taiwanese (no particular region identified)


孽

Who's so naughty that they locked me in a dream?

2020, 黃妃 (Huang Fei) (lyricist 方文良 Neil Fang), 雪咧飛

Siáng chiah gia̍t, chiong gún só tī-teh bāng lāi-té

誰遮孽 將阮鎖佇咧夢內底

谁遮孽 将阮锁伫咧梦内底


崇

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *zruŋ): semantic 山 (“mountain”) + phonetic 宗 (OC *ʔsuːŋ).


孔

Bronze inscriptions: Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 丿 (“opening”) + 子 (“child”) – opening in the skull of a newborn, i.e. fontanelle.
; "hole": From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *(g/k)uŋ (“hole; orifice; inner part”). 孔 (OC *kʰloːŋʔ, “hole”) is probably the endoactive derivation of 空 (OC *kʰoːŋ, “hollow; empty”) (Schuessler, 2007). Cognate with Tibetan ཁུང (khung, “hole”), Jingpho ladi hku (lədî hkū, “nostril”), Chepang घाङ् (gʰaŋ, “hole”), Burmese အခေါင်း (a.hkaung:, “hollow place; cavity”), Naxi kho³³ (“cave; hole; pit”) (STEDT).
; "peacock": Starostin reconstructs 孔 (OC *khōŋ) and compares it to Proto-Vietic *k-voːŋ. Compare also Semai kuwok, Semnam kwɔːŋ.

cog

鼻孔


寺

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (寺):
* → Japanese: 寺(じ) (ji)
* → Korean: 사(寺) (sa)

/t͡siː²²⁻³⁵/

/t͡siː²²⁻³⁵/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ljɯs): phonetic 𡳿 (OC *tjɯ, “to go”) + semantic 又 (“hand”) – to grasp, to hold. Phonetic 𡳿 (之), which represents a footprint pointing up, became 土 or 士 in the clerical script from the late Western Han to the Eastern Han, and semantic 又 become 寸 in Small Seal Script. The derivative 持 (OC *l'ɯ) refers to the original word.
The character was often used in the place of a more specialized form. For example, in the Chu Silk Manuscript (see table above) it clearly stood for 時 (OC *djɯ, “season”).

Han compound

大理寺

(historical) government court; office (before the Han dynasty)


崗

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *klaːŋ): semantic 山 (“mountain”) + phonetic 岡 (OC *klaːŋ).
The same word as 岡／冈 (gāng). See 岡／冈 (gāng) for etymology.

Han compound

崗哨

岗哨

崗樓

岗楼


崗

(dialectal) Only used in 崗尖／岗尖 (“brimful”).


害

Multiple theories:
* He Linyi (何琳儀): Ideogram (指事): a spear 𫲸 (now 𥎆) + a distinguishing mark 口.
* Li Xueqin (2012): Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声). The phonetic component is 𡩜 (xiàn).
* Guo Moruo (郭沫若), Dai Jiaxiang (戴家祥): Pictogram (象形), ancient form of 蓋 ("lid; cover").
* Gao Hongying (高鴻纓): Jiajie (假借), original character of 桷, borrowed for sound, which was a pictogram (象形) of a house's rafters (see 舍).
* Chen Bingxin (陳秉新): Original form of 𠤳, written as ⿷𠥓⿴害五 in bronze inscriptions, which itself is an ancient way of writing the 胡 in 胡簋.
* Shuowen Jiezi: Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡaːds): semantic 宀 + semantic 口 + phonetic 丯 (OC *kreːds).
Cognate with 割 (OC *kaːd, “to cut”). See there for more.

Han compound

The flight was delayed, causing me to wait for another two hours.

Hángbān wǎndiǎn le, hài wǒ duō děng le liǎng ge xiǎoshí.

航班晚點了，害我多等了兩個小時。

航班晚点了，害我多等了两个小时。

to cause to do; to result in (something unfavourable)


嶇

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kʰo): semantic 山 (“mountain”) + phonetic 區 (OC *qoː, *kʰo).


屈

Characters in the same phonetic series (出) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Originally 𡲶. Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *klud, *kʰlud): phonetic 出 (OC *kʰljuds, *kʰljud) + semantic 尾 (“tail”). 尾 became 尸 in clerical script.


嶽

岳
岳
𡽺
𡶓
𡷒
𡶳
𡴳


審

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 宀 (“roof”) + 釆 (“to distinguish”) + 田. There are two theories about the component 田. One is that it was originally 口 (“mouth”), then corrupted into 曰 (“say”), then further into 田. The other one is that its a remnant from a variant form ⿱宷思 with 心 omitted. The Shuowen Jiezi describes 審 as the seal script variant of 宷.


妻

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 肀 (“hand grabbing hair”) + 女 (“woman”) ― a man grabbing a woman's hair to show ownership (marriage by capture).
Thought to be cognate to 齊 (OC *dzêi, “same, equal (adj.), in line”) (SWJZhttps://ctext.org/shuo-wen-jie-zi/nv-bu#n34692; Karlgren, 1956) & interpreted as "an equal to her husband"; yet this is unlikely considering the realities of ancient societies (Schuessler, 2007).
Schuessler instead proposes Austroasiatic etymology: he reconstructs 妻 (OC *tshə̂i) < *k-sə̂i and compares it to Middle Khmer [script needed] (kansai, “wife”) (whence Khmer កន្សៃ (kɑɑkɑnsay, “wife”)) and Khmer [script needed] (*khsay, “be female”) with *ka(n)- being a female marker (ibid.).

cog

𡜈
𡜌
𡜛
𡜽
𡝣
𡝽
𪥼


屄

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 尸 (“body”) + 穴 (“hole”) — a hole under a body.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *b(j)at (“vagina, vulva”).

inh

牛屄

苦逼

(vulgar) An intensifying suffix after an adjective.


履

In the bronze inscriptions, an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 眉 + 頁 (“person with prominent head”) + 止 (“foot”) + 舟 (“shoe or (shoe-shaped) boat”). Possibly 履 (OC *riʔ) is also phono-semantic (形聲／形声) with phonetic component 眉 (OC *mril).
According to Shuowen, ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 尸 + 彳 (“road”) + 夊 (“foot”) + 舟 (“(shoe-shaped) boat”). Possibly phono-semantic (形聲／形声), with 尸 (OC *hli) functioning as a phonetic component corrupted from 眉 (OC *mril). Comparing Qin bamboo slip script, Shuowen seal's 舟 was corrupted from 自, and Qin's 自 was simplified from 頁.
Modern form is a compound of 尸 + 復 (“return”).

Han compound

㞛
𡲟
𡳐
𢔃
𨂠
𩕎
𨇐


孤

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kʷaː): semantic 子 (“child”) + phonetic 瓜 (OC *kʷraː).
Related to 寡 (OC *kʷraːʔ, “alone; widow”), 鰥 (OC *kruːn, *kruːns, “widower”) (Schuessler, 2007).


屁

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *pʰis): semantic 尸 (“body”) + phonetic 比 (OC *piʔ, *pis, *bi, *bis, *biɡ).
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *pja-n/t/s (“fart; shit”). Cognate with Tibetan ཕྱེན (phyen), འཕྱེན ('phyen, “flatulence”), Jingpho hpyet (“to fart”).

inh

放屁

(colloquial) flatulence; fart (Classifier: 篤／笃 c)


帕

Short for 帕斯卡 (Pàsīkǎ, “pascal (SI unit)”).


宗

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 宀 (“house”) + 示 (“spirit tablet”) – temple; ancestral shrine.
Compare Proto-Sino-Tibetan *tsuk ⪤ *tsik (“to build”) (STEDT). Cognate with Tibetan རྫོང (rdzong, “castle; fortress”), Burmese ဆောင် (hcaung, “room; chamber; hall”) (Schuessler, 2007).
; an administrative division in historical Tibet


寶

Oracle bone script: Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 宀 (“house”) + 𤣩 (“jade”) + 貝 (“cowry”) – treasures in a house.
The phonetic component 缶 (OC *puʔ) was added to the character in bronze inscriptions.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *pəw (“price”); cognate with Burmese အဖိုး (a.hpui:, “price”) (Schuessler, 2007; STEDT). Peiros and Starostin (1996) also compares it to Tibetan སྤུས (spus, “goods”). Sagart (1999) relates it to 富 (OC *pɯɡs, “rich”). Schuessler (2007) proposes that it could be the same word as 保 (OC *puːʔ, “to take care of; to consider something precious”).

och-l

宝
*寳
珤
𤥖
㻄
𡧖
宲
𡩧
𡧰
寚
𪧬
𡪓
𡫷
𤥯
𤨷
𠋾
𠍙
𢉣
𢉔
𢉹
𫴫
𫴦
𫴅
𡫿
𡫷
𫳽
𭔟
靌
𩇉


密

→ Thai: มิด (mít)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *mriɡ): phonetic 宓 (OC *mriɡ, *mliɡ) + semantic 山 (“mountain”) – hidden in the mountains, secret, intimate. Note that 宓 means “secret”, hence the phonetic component also adds part of the meaning.

Han compound

33rd tetragram of the Taixuanjing; "closeness" (𝌦)


寧

Oracle bone script: Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 宀 (“house”) + 皿 (“food or wine vessel”) + 丂 (“table (?)”) – contentment. The 心 (“heart”) component was added in bronze inscriptions to yield 寧, and the 丂 component was sometimes omitted to yield 寍.
Shuowen: Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *neːŋ): phonetic 寍 (OC *neːŋ) + semantic 丂 (“speech (?)”).
Note that the simplified form 宁 (zhù) is also a traditional character on its own.
Either related to Burmese ညင်း (nyang:, “soft, gentle, quiet”) or connected to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s/k-niŋ (“heart, mind, brain”) (Schuessler, 2007)

cog

宁
寍
㝕
𡩋
甯
𡨴
寜
寕

寧教我負天下人，休教天下人負我／宁教我负天下人，休教天下人负我

nìngjiào wǒ fù tiānxià rén, xiū jiào tiānxià rén fù wǒ

寧為太平犬，不做亂世人／宁为太平犬，不做乱世人

nìng wéi tàipíng quǎn, bù zuò luànshì rén


富

→ English: Fu

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *pɯɡs): semantic 宀 + phonetic 畐 (OC *pʰrɯɡ, *bɯɡ).
Bodman (1980) compares it to Tibetan ཕྱུག (phyug, “rich; wealthy”), ཕྱུགས (phyugs, “all beasts that can be domesticated or subjugated by man; cattle”), but the vowels do not match with Chinese (Schuessler, 2007).
Sagart (1999) relates it to 寶 (OC *puːʔ), but see there for more. In later work, Sagart (2011b, 2017d) connects it to Proto-Tibeto-Burman *pʷak (“pig”), comparing the semantic development from “pig” to “rich” to Latin pecunia (“money”), which is derived from Latin pecu (“cattle; domestic animals”), and tentatively reconstructs Proto-Sino-Tibetan *C.pək (“pig”). However, the Tibeto-Burman word for “pig” is usually compared to 豝 (OC *praː, “sow”).
Cognate with 福 (OC *pɯɡ, “blessing”) (Wang, 1982; Schuessler, 2007).

Han compound

(～縣) Fu County, Fuxian (a county of Yan'an, Shaanxi, China)


容

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *loŋ): semantic 宀 + phonetic 公 (OC *kloːŋ) – to hold; to contain.
容 has also largely supplanted 頌 (OC *sɢloŋs, *loŋ) for the sense of “appearance”.
Note phonetic and semantic resemblance to Burmese ယောင် (yaung, “appearance, semblance”), though the discrepancy in initials is problematic (Luce, 1981).
; “ronna-”

cog

(Mainland China) ronna- (SI unit prefix)


姦

Characters in the same phonetic series (姦) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): Triplication of 女 (“woman”).


屯

Pictogram (象形) – a plant sprout (屮) with a dot in the middle, than transformed into a horizontal line perhaps to emphasize the sprout. See also the top component of 春 in its original version.
;hill
;village, hamlet


封

Ideogrammic (會意／会意) and phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *poŋ, *poŋs): abbreviated phonetic 丰 (OC *pʰoŋ, “seedling”) + 土 (“dirt”) + 寸 (“hand”) – mark boundaries by planting trees. Compare 邦.
Originally 丰 (OC *pʰoŋ), depicting a tree seedling. Variants that added any combination of 土 (“dirt”), 又 (“hand”), 田 (“field”), 丮 (“kneeling person with hands stretched out”) appeared from bronze inscriptions onwards.
Area etymon (Schuessler, 2007). Compare Tibetan ཕུང་པོ (phung po, “heap”), Tibetan སྤུང (spung, “heap”), Lepcha ᰣᰦᰎᰪᰵ (a-pŭŋ, “a heap; a stock”), Mizo [Term?] (puŋᴴ), [Term?] (punᴸ, “increase; assemble”), Mizo vûng (vuuŋᴴ), vûn (vuunᴸ, “swollen”), Mizo vûng (vuuŋᴿ, “heap; mound”), Chepang भुङ्हसा (bhuŋh-, “to be burst or peak of activity (flowering, field work etc.)”). Compare also Khmer ពោង (poong, “protuberances/bumps on an animal's head”), Khmer សំពោង (sɑmpoong, “puffed up; swollen”).
邦 (OC *proːŋ, “country”) may be the same etymon (Wang, 1982, Schuessler, 2007).

cog

封建主義 封建主義#Chinese

封建主义 封建主义#Chinese

Short for 封建主義／封建主义 (fēngjiàn zhǔyì, “feudalism”).


室

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *hliɡ): semantic 宀 (“roof”) + phonetic 至 (OC *tjiɡs). Its original meaning is "house, residence". The arrows also indicates that a residence is a place or spot in which somebody stops, like an arrow stuck on the ground, hence the phonetic component also adds part of the meaning. Hence, in accordance to this interpretation, the character can be understood as "a ⼧ roof over ⾄ this exact spot".
The character's modern meaning is "to arrive". Hence, according to 說文 Shuowen, it is analyzed as a 會意 semantic assembly, as he says "至所止 arrive at a specific place" symbolized by the roof.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *k-li(s). Cognate to Tibetan གཞིས (gzhis) < གལྱི (glyi, “ground, foundation, cause; residence, abode”), ས་གཞི (sa gzhi, “earth (opposite to sky)”), གཞིས (gzhis, “native place”), ཡུལ་གཞིས (yul gzhis, “house, estate, property”), གཞིས་སྒྲིལ་བ (gzhis sgril ba, “to move, to change one's abode”). Also cognate to Proto-Tibeto-Burman *mliy, from which Burmese မြေ (mre, “earth, soil”) is derived.

Han compound

(literary, or in compounds) work unit; administrative unit


居

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kɯ, *kas): semantic 尸 + phonetic 古 (OC *kaːʔ).

Han compound

39th tetragram of the Taixuanjing; "residence" (𝌬)


岩

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 山 (“hill”) + 石 (“rock”).
Originally written as 巖 – phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ŋraːm): semantic 山 (“hill”) + phonetic 嚴 (OC *ŋam). The variant form 岩 first appeared in the clerical script in the Han dynasty era.
Cognate with 嚴 (OC *ŋam, “majestic; stern; grave”) and 儼 (OC *ŋamʔ, “dignified; majestic”). See 嚴 for more.
癌 (ái, “cancer”) is a derivative of 岩.

Han compound

The Zhi area is a dangerous and strategic place, Guo Shu died there.

制，巖邑也，虢叔死焉。

制，岩邑也，虢叔死焉。

(obsolete) precipitous and strategically located


嶼

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ljaʔ): semantic 山 + phonetic 與 (OC *la, *laʔ, *las).
This character was affected by misreadings, or Youbian dubian.

Han compound

基隆嶼／基隆屿

Xiandai Hanyu Guifan Cidian
Youbian dubian


廖

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *rɯːw, *rɯːws, *rɯws): semantic 广 + phonetic 翏 (OC *ɡ·rɯːw, *ɡ·rɯws).

蜀中無大將，廖化作先鋒／蜀中无大将，廖化作先锋

Shǔ zhōng wú dàjiàng, Liào Huà zuò xiānfēng


巡

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *sɢljun): semantic 辵 (“walk”) + phonetic 川 (OC *kʰjon).

Han compound

Hardhearted wrinkles, one by one. Years have dyed the hair snow-white.

bô-chêng ê liâu-hûn, chi̍t sûn iū chi̍t sûn, sòe-goa̍t ní sêng pe̍h-soat ê thâu-mn̂g

無情的皺紋 一巡又一巡 歲月染成白雪的頭毛

无情的皱纹 一巡又一巡 岁月染成白雪的头毛


希

Originally 𢁫, ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 爻 + 巾 (“cloth”).


官

→ English: Guan, Kwan

Compositionally related to 宮. Approximately analysable as ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 宀 + 𠂤 – multiple rooms under a roof, an official building.
Probably the same word as 倌 (OC *koːn, *kroːns, “servant”) (Schuessler, 2007). See there for more.


幕

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *maːɡ): phonetic 莫 (OC *maːɡ) + semantic 巾 (“cloth”).


岸

→ Vietnamese: ngạn

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ŋɡaːns): semantic 屵 (“cliff”) + phonetic 干 (OC *kaːn) – the edge of the land. Its proto-form was 屵.
Possibly derived from a stem *ŋaʔ (“to oppose; to resist”) + general noun suffix *-n; related to 厂 (OC *hŋaːnʔ, *hŋaːns, “cliff”), 滸 (OC *hŋaːʔ, “riverbank”) (Schuessler, 2007).

Han compound

海岸

靠岸

偉岸／伟岸


就

/t͡ɕi̯oʊ̯⁵¹/

/t͡ɕi̯oʊ̯⁵¹/

Originally 𫢁, ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 享 + 京, a temple and a tower – meaning "to sacrifice at a high place". During the Warring States period, 享 was omitted. In seal script, 尤 (“especially; even more”) is added to the right, signifying "high; to go to a higher place".
Cognate with 造 (OC *skʰuːɡs, “to proceed to”) (Wang, 1982).

我一大早就起床。

(used to express earliness) as early as; as soon as


巨

Pictogram (象形) – a carpenter's square held in hand by a man 大; the original form of 矩 (OC *kʷaʔ). Borrowed phonetically for the sense "enormous".
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *wa (“large, wide, distant”). Insides Sinitic, 巨 (OC *gwaʔ ?) is possibly related to 迂 (OC *wa, “to enlarge, increase”) and perhaps 況 (OC *hwaŋh, “to increase, increasingly, how much more, moreover”); outsides Sinitic, cognate with Mizo vak (“with force, very hard, much, exceedingly, in large number / quantities, (open mouth) wide”).


尋

→ Vietnamese: tìm

Spring and Autumn period
oracle bone script

Characters in the same phonetic series (尋) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): two hands (now 彐 and 寸 ) stretched out measuring a mat (now 工) – "a unit of measurement; arm span". The component 口 (“mouth, talk”) was likely added to emphasize the act of reading the measurement out loud. Forms with it have appeared as early as oracle bone script, but forms without it have also appeared as late as the Spring and Autumn period.
Appears as 𢒫 in the Shuowen Jiezi, which interprets the character as phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声) with 彡 (OC *sroːm, *slom) as the sound component.
; unit of length; arm span
; to seek; to search

Han etyl

Liu Ziji of Nanyang was a noble scholar who heard of this, and joyously set out for it, but to no avail; he died of illness shortly afterwards.

The Peach Blossom Spring (桃花源記), by Tao Yuanming, 421 (Wiktionary translation)

Nányáng Liú Zǐjì, gāoshàng shì yě, wén zhī, xīnrán qīn wǎng. Wèiguǒ, xún bìng zhōng.

南陽劉子驥，高尚士也，聞之，欣然親往。未果，尋病終。

南阳刘子骥，高尚士也，闻之，欣然亲往。未果，寻病终。


寒

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 宀 (“house”) + 人 (“person”) + 茻 (“grass”) – a person in a house, sleeping in the grass to protect from the cold. In some bronze inscriptions, 二 is added at the bottom of the character; this may simply be decorative or may represent a mat. In the seal script, 二 is changed to 仌 (“ice”) to emphasize its meaning of coldness.
Contrast 宿.
Unknown (Schuessler, 2007).


實

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 宀 (“roof”) + 周 (“carved jade”) + 貝 (“shellfish; cowrie”).
The two lower components of 周 and 貝 had combined to form 貫 (OC *koːn, *koːns, “string of cowries”), hence the incorrect analysis in Shuowen Jiezi of this character as 宀 + 貫.

och-l

[To calculate the difference between two fractions,] multiply each fraction's numerator by the other's denominator, and subtract the smaller product from the larger one, and let the difference be the divisor. Let the product of the two denominators be the dividend. Add one to the result for each part in the dividend that equals to the divisor (which means to divide the dividend by the divisor).

10th–2nd century BCE, The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art

Mǔ hù chéng zǐ, yǐ shào jiǎn duō, yú wèi shí. Mǔ xiàng chéng wèi fǎ. Shí rú fǎ ér yī.

母互乘子，以少減多，餘為實。母相乘為法。實如法而一。

母互乘子，以少减多，余为实。母相乘为法。实如法而一。


庇

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *pis): semantic 广 (“house that is built to depend on a cliff”) + phonetic 比 (OC *piʔ, *pis, *bi, *bis, *biɡ).


夏

Sagart (2023b) relates it to 暇 (OC *[g]ˤra-s, “leisure”) and Burmese အား (a:, “to be free (not in use; without obligations)”), the latter of which STEDT derives from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *k-ra (“strength; to win; classifier for people”) but does not compare to 夏. See 暇 for more.

cog

昰
夓
𠀼
𠌘
𠍺
𡔰
𡕭
𡕻
𡕾
𡖃
𣋗
𤴞
𧈄
𩖳


寸

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (寸):
* → Japanese: 寸(すん) (sun)
* → Korean: 촌(寸) (chon)
* → Vietnamese: thốn (寸)

Old Uyghur: tswn (tsun)

/t͡sʰu̯ən⁵¹/

/t͡sʰouŋ²¹³/

/t͡sʰu̯ən⁵¹/

/t͡sʰouŋ²¹³/

Characters in the same phonetic series (寸) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Shuowen considered it Ideogram (指事) – a position on the forearm where the pulse can be palpated by compressing the radial artery. It is called 寸口 in modern Chinese, and the meaning of a unit of measurement is derived from the distance between the wrist and this position. Compare 又, 手, 九, 爪.
However, it may be an abbreviated form of 尊 (zūn), borrowed to mean a unit of measurement (see: 李轶.先秦度量单位"尺""寸"用字考[J].云南师范大学学报(哲学社会科学版), 2010, 42(5).DOI:10.3969/j.issn.1000-5110.2010.05.017.)

Han etyl

(units of measure) A cun or Chinese inch, a traditional unit of length of about 3 cm.

(Hong Kong) Legally defined as the tsun of 3.71475 cm.

(informal) Short for 英寸 (yīngcùn, “inch”).

traditional Chinese medicine
traditional Chinese medicine

(traditional Chinese medicine) cunkou pulse; radial artery pulse at the wrist


媽

→ Thai: ม้า (máa)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *maːʔ): semantic 女 + phonetic 馬 (OC *mraːʔ).
Colloquial form of 母 (OC *mɯʔ, “mother”), from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *mow (“woman, female”).

inh

(usually with qualifier) other older female relatives or house-servants


峰

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *pʰoŋ): semantic 山 (“mountain”) + phonetic 夆 (OC *pʰoŋ, *boŋ, *ɡaːds).


太

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *tʰaːds): phonetic 大 (OC *daːds, *daːds, “big; great”) + semantic 丶 – excessive, too (much). The phonetic component however points out the concept of "great" (quantity), so it adds part of the meaning. See also the original version of 泰, with the component 大 on top.
A superlative derivative of 大 (OC *daːds, *daːds, “big”) – be too great, very great, excessive.

Han compound

Short for 太湖 (Tàihú, “Lake Tai, a lake in Southern Jiangsu, China”).


巾

Pictogram (象形) – hanging piece of cloth.

(historical) piece of clothing worn on the head in China


外

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (外):
* → Japanese: 外(げ) (ge); 外(がい) (gai)
* → Korean: 외(外) (oe)
* → Vietnamese: ngoại (外)

→ Vietnamese: ngoài (“outside”)

→ Old Turkic: term

→ Turkmen: öweý

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ŋʷaːds): semantic 卜 + phonetic 月 (OC *ŋod).
According to 学研漢和大字典 (Kenkyūsha Kanwa Dai Jiten), it is also an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意); 月 originally represents a crescent moon (i.e. the moon with part “missing” to the observer). The character is thus interpreted as representing divination based on the partial phase of the moon, implying the remaining visible part of the moon is the moon's ‘outside’.

Han compound

窗外

外表

此外

十公里外

I found my name the last of the enrolled;
The good master went a step beyond me.

Song dynasty, poet Fan Gongcheng (范公偁), 《過庭錄》

Jièmíng jìnchù shì Sūnshān, xiánláng gèngzài Sūnshān wài.

解名盡處是孫山，賢郎更在孫山外。

解名尽处是孙山，贤郎更在孙山外。

beyond; above; in addition to; other than; except

外國

外国

外校

other; foreign; alien (not of one's own family, clan, locality, school, country, etc.)

外婆

外孫

外孙

外祖父

relatives of one's mother, sister or daughter


宮

Chinese folk religion
Mazu
Qing conquest of Taiwan
Qing dynasty
ancestor worship

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 宀 + 呂: many rooms under a roof — a mansion.
STEDT compares it with Proto-Sino-Tibetan *k-jim ~ k-jum (“house”); see there for hypothesized cognates.

Gōng means róng ‘to contain’; hán ‘to hold’; it contains and holds the four seasons

Ban Gu, The Comprehensive Discussions in the White Tiger Hall, 79 CE, translated based on Tjan Tjoe Som's version

Gōng zhě, róng yě, hán yě, hánróng sìshí zhě yě.

宮者，容也，含也，含容四時者也。

宫者，容也，含也，含容四时者也。

(music) the first note of the Chinese pentatonic scale


寮

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *reːw): semantic 宀 + phonetic 尞 ().

Han compound

(chiefly Taiwan, Singapore) Short for 寮國 (“Laos”).


屬

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *tjoɡ, *djoɡ): semantic 㞑 (“tail”) + phonetic 蜀 (OC *djoɡ).
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *m-dz(y)u-k (“to belong, trust, depend, accept, take”). Cognate with Burmese ယူ (yu, “to take”) (STEDT).

inh

軍屬

军属


屍

→ Vietnamese: thây

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *hli, *hlis): phonetic 尸 (OC *hli) + semantic 死.


少

Pictogram (象形) – four dots, perhaps three grains of sand (see 沙), to indicate "a few, a little". Phonetically borrowed from 小 (OC *smewʔ, “small”), which is depicted by three dots.
Unrelated to 步 (and hence 歲), in which the lower component is the stylization of a foot.

GT - General Taiwanese (no specific region identified)


幻

Three interpretations, all of which are ideogram (指事):
* Variant of 玄 with an elongated stroke to distinguish (Ji Xusheng).
* Abbreviation of 縣 (He Linyi).
* Inversion of 予 (Shuowen Jiezi).


廬

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ra): semantic 广 + phonetic 盧 (OC *b·raː).

(archaic) inn; guesthouse; lodging (for officials)


庚

→ Zhuang: geng

Pictogram (象形) – a flail and a threshing device. See also 康 and 唐.


廷

desc

→ Tibetan: ཐིང (thing, “government department or office at the provincial level”)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *l'eːŋ, *l'eːŋʔ): semantic 廴 + phonetic 𡈼 (OC *l̥ʰeːŋʔ).
The phonetic 𡈼 is itself an ideogrammic compound, depicting a person standing on soil, and is also the ancient form of 徵／征 (“to convene, to assemble”), signifying a place where people stand in assembly — a court.
From 聽 (OC *l̥ʰeːŋ, *l̥ʰeːŋs, “to hear”), i.e. “where hearings take place”. Related to 廳 (OC *l̥ʰeːŋ, “hall”).

Han compound

(historical) palace courtyard; court of a feudal lord


屎

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) and phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *hliʔ, *hri): phonetic 尸 (OC *hli, “body”) + semantic 米 (“rice”). The 米 component was originally three (, representing 小, as seen in ), four (, representing 少) or five dots (as seen in ) forming a ideogrammic representation of faeces in the oracle bone script, with four dots being the most common variant, thus representing a man defecating with faeces coming out of the backside. The Shang dynasty variants saw the 尸 ("body") component interchangeable with 人 ("human"); later, by the Western Zhou dynasty, 尸 variants with four dots became the dominant and sole-surviving form, however examples from this time period also exist where the 尸 component is mistaken for 尾 ("tail"), as seen in . During the Warring States period, the 少 component became corrupted into 米.
Shuowen Jiezi does not feature the 屎 character, however it does contain 𦳊 and 𡕝. 𦳊 is listed in Shuowen as deriving from 艸 ("grass") and 胃 ("stomach"), while 𡲴 is listed as the ancient form of 徙 (“migration”), however in reality this is not the case; 𡲴 is an erroneous form of the 屎 variant containing 尾, where the tail portion of the 尾 component is mistakenly written as 火. During the Zhou dynasty, 屎 was often used as a phonetic borrowing for 徙 (OC *selʔ); moreover, during the Warring States period, the Chu script character for 徙 consisted of 屎 with an additional 辵 (modern radical form 辶) added to represent the meaning of walking.
Following transition to the clerical script, a variety of alternative forms emerged:
*The 米 component was replaced with phonetic component 矢 (OC *hliʔ) thus creating the variant form 𡱁;
*Some variants added another 米 radical to create 𥻐 and 𥺶;
*Existing variants containing the 尾 component became 𡲔 and 𡱵;
*The body portion of 𡲴 also became further corrupted into 夂 (zhǐ), creating 𡕝;
*The tail portion of 尾-based variants became corrupted into 巛, creating 𡲑;
*The 尸 component corrupted into 广, creating 𢈍;
*Even the variant form 𢈍 became corrupted, where the 广 was simplified into 宀, creating 宩.
All of these variant forms failed to gain widespread usage, and eventually faded into obscurity while 屎 remained the dominant character variant.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *kləj (“excrement”).

Han compound

𦳊
宩
𡱁
𡲑
𡲔
𡲖
𥺶
𥻐

excrement; poop (Classifier: 坨 m; 篤／笃 c; 坺 c; 箍 mn)


廊

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *raːŋ): semantic 广 + phonetic 郎 (OC *raːŋ).
良 may be the original form of this character, see there for more.

Han compound

(Singapore Hokkien) workshop; atelier (place where goods are made or repaired)


尸

Pictogram (象形) - A man with his legs bending, and a side to the front. Its ancient form is 𡰣. The picture is variously interpreted as either sitting or lying.
When used as a radical, 尸 is usually derived from a variation of 人 or 亻, as in 尾.

(historical) a living person who represents the dead person during a rite


廝

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *se): semantic 广 + phonetic 斯 (OC *se).


崖

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ŋreː, *ŋre): semantic 山 (“mountain”) + phonetic 厓 (OC *ŋreː, “cliff”).
Alternatively analyzed as Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ŋreː, *ŋre): semantic 屵 (“cliff”) + phonetic 圭 (OC *kʷeː). In this case, its proto-form could be 屵.
Originally, the phonetic component is not related to the concept of earth (土) since in its original form it represents a pair of ritual axes perhaps made of jade 士. Hence, the link to the concept of earth in this character, 厓 and 街 either comes from folk etymology or its appearence in the Small Seal script.
Same word as 睚 (OC *ŋreːs, “rim of the eye”) and 涯 (OC *ŋreː, *ŋre, “shore, bank”) (Schuessler, 2007). See the latter for etymology.

Han compound

She said, "There's a cliff over there. Do you think it's slippery?"

2018, 雙雪濤, 《飛行家》, Taipei: 大塊文化, →ISBN, page 91

Tā shuō, nàbiān yǒu ge yá, nǐ juéde huá ma?

她說，那邊有個崖，你覺得滑嗎？

她说，那边有个崖，你觉得滑吗？


廿

Two 十 ("ten") written side by side, with a horizontal stroke at the bottom that fuses them. See also 卅.
In characters such as 漢 and 黄, it represents an open mouth 口, while in 度 and 席 it actually represents a stylized rock 石.
The pronunciation in most dialects is a contraction of 二十 (èrshí) (Early Middle Chinese: *nyijH dzyip). The irregular pronunciation (e.g. /nVm/) dates back to the Song dynasty, to avoid homophony with a vulgar word; see 入 (rù) (now commonly written as 日 (rì) in dialects).


尺

→ English: chi, chek

→ Vietnamese: thước

→ Zhuang: cik

/t͡sʰiɪk̚³²/

/t͡sʰiɐk̚³³/

/t͡sʰiɪk̚³²/

/t͡sʰiɐk̚³³/

Uncertain. Various explanations include:
* A man (人) with a mark (乙) on his leg to indicate 10 cun (寸) above the foot. (Lin Yiguang, 1920)
* Differentiation of 乇 (OC *ʔr'aːɡ), 宅 (OC *r'aːɡ), or 斥 (OC *ŋ̊ʰjaːɡs, *ŋ̊ʰjaːɡ). (He Linyi, 1998, Ji Xusheng, 2014)
* Pictogram (象形) of a hand, more specifically the thumb and the middle finger, stretched out to measure the length of 10 cun (寸). (Shirakawa Shizuka, Lawrence J. Howell)

chi; Chinese foot (a traditional Chinese unit of distance based on the human forearm and equal to 10 cun (寸) or ¹/₁₀ zhang (丈))

(Mainland China) mainland chi; Chinese foot, standardized in 1984 as ¹/₃ meter

(Hong Kong) chek; Hong Kong foot, standardized as 0.371475 meters

ruler (straightedge) (Classifier: 把 m c; 支 m h mn; 桿／杆 m)


尺

(music) Cantonese opera gongche notation for the note re (2).


廠

/t͡sʰiãu⁴⁴⁵/

/t͡sʰiɔŋ⁵⁵⁴/

/t͡sʰiãu⁴⁴⁵/

/t͡sʰiɔŋ⁵⁵⁴/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *tʰjaŋʔ, *tʰjaŋs): semantic 广 + phonetic 敞 (OC *tʰjaŋʔ).

Han compound

工廠

工厂

factory; workshop; mill; (industrial) plant


帥

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 寻 (“two hands”) + 巾 (“scarf”) - to wear a scarf. Shuowen Jiezi interprets it as Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *sruds, *srud): phonetic 𠂤 (*C.tˤuj) + semantic 巾.
Also written as 率 (OC *sruds, *rud, *srud, “to lead”); both represent the s-causative of 律 (OC *rud, “to follow”). Cognate with Tibetan སྲིད (srid, “commander, leader”).

cog

帥呆

帅呆

帥哥

帅哥

(colloquial, of men) handsome; good-looking; hot


廳

→? Vietnamese: sảnh

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *l̥ʰeːŋ): semantic 广 (“house”) + phonetic 聽 (OC *l̥ʰeːŋ, *l̥ʰeːŋs).
According to Jiyun, from 聽／听 (tīng), short for 聽事／听事.

Han compound

廳 / 厅 (tīng ‘hearing [hall]’): The people of old called the government officials' bureaus ‘[halls for] hearing cases’; later the expression is shortened to just ‘hearing [hall]’; so the radical 广 (yǎn) would be added.

Tīng, gǔzhě zhìguān chù wèi zhī tīngshì, hòu yǔ xǐng zhí yuē tīng, gù jiā yǎn.

廳，古者治官處謂之聽事，後語省直曰聽，故加广。

厅，古者治官处谓之听事，后语省直曰听，故加广。

I am sleeping in the living room tonight.

我今晚瞓廳。

我今晚𰥛厅。

(Cantonese) living room and/or dining room


巫

→ English: wu

Pictogram (象形) – originally two pieces of jade crossed over each other as used in ancient shamanistic practices focused around sacrifices.
As an alternative, according to Zou Jingheng (鄒景蘅), they represent two 工 crossed over, hence two tools made of bamboo or yarrow stalks; the original meaning should be partly preserved in 筮.
; “shaman; witch”
: Thai หมอ (mɔ̌ɔ, “doctor”) < Proto-Tai *ʰmo:ᴬ (“shaman”) is generally assumed to be a Sino-Tibetan loan (Pittayaporn, 2014). More at Wu (shaman), Magi#In Chinese sources, magus.
; “Malay”

United Malays National Organisation, UMNO

巫統

巫统

(chiefly Malaysia, Singapore) Malay; Melayu; relating to ethnic Malays


尚

→ Tangut: → 𗊻 (*śjo²) (transliteration)

Characters in the same phonetic series (尚) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *djaŋ, *djaŋs): semantic 八 + phonetic 向 (OC *hljaŋs, *hlaŋs). Similar to 冋.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *zrjaŋ ~ rjaŋ (“uncle, superior”) (STEDT; cf. Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-tjaŋ (“, upper part, rise, raise, top, summit”)). Cognate with 丈 (OC *daŋʔ) "gentleman, older man, husband", Tibetan ཨ་ཞང (a zhang, “maternal uncle”), Burmese အရှင် (a.hrang, “master, lord”), etc.

cog

年紀尚幼

年纪尚幼

不良反應：尚不明確。

不良反应：尚不明确。


康

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 庚 (“threshing tools”) + 米 (“rice”) – chaff. Unrelated to 隶, in which the bottom part is a reference to a tail (毛).
The derivative 糠 refers to the original word.
; quiet, calm, peaceful
; Kham
; "to look, to see"

Han compound

(historical) a surname, given to people from the Central Asian country of Kangju (康居 or 康國／康国)


府

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *poʔ): semantic 广 (“building”) + phonetic 付 (OC *pos) – a type of building.


廈

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *sraːs, *ɡraːʔ): semantic 广 + phonetic 夏 (OC *ɡraːʔ, *ɡraːs). However, the phonetic component means "great", hence it adds part of the meaning.
Related to 嘏 (OC *kraːʔ, “great”) (Wang, 1982).


彊

/t͡ɕʰi̯ɑŋ³⁵/

/t͡ɕʰi̯ɑŋ³⁵/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kaŋs, *ɡaŋ, *ɡaŋʔ): semantic 弓 (“bow”) + phonetic 畺 (OC *kaŋ).
Bow is powerful.

Han compound

36th tetragram of the Taixuanjing; "strength" (𝌩)


宿

In the oracle bone script, an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 人 (“person”) + [Term?] (“bamboo mat”) – a person resting on a mat. Sometimes a house (宀) was added.
Later the pictogram of the bamboo mat became 㐁 or 𠀬, and eventually came to be written 百.
Contrast 寒.
; “To stay overnight; lodge > night; mansion of the zodiac [i.e. the Sun's lodging stations]”

(～州) (historical) The name of an ancient prefecture during the Tang dynasty, located in modern-day Suzhou city in Anhui province.


庫

→ Mongolian: хүү (xüü)

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) and phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kʰaːs): semantic 广 (“building”) + phonetic 車 (OC *kʰlja, *kla, “carriage”) – a carriage in a building.
According to Karlgren (1956), cognate with 車 (OC *kʰlja, *kla, “carriage”) (< "storehouse for carriages").

Han compound

(physics) Short for 庫侖／库仑 (kùlún, “coulomb (unit of electrical charge)”).


徇

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *sɢʷins): semantic 彳 + phonetic 旬 (OC *sɢʷin).


席

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (席):
* → Japanese: 席(せき) (seki)

→ Vietnamese: tiệc

/t͡sʰioʔ¹²¹/

/t͡sʰioʔ¹²¹/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ljaːɡ): phonetic 石 (OC *djaɡ) + semantic 巾 (“cloth”). In the small seal script 石 has corrupted into ⿸广廿. Shuowen Jiezi interprets it as ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): abbreviated phonetic 庶 (OC *hljaɡs) + semantic 巾. In the variant 𠩛, 石 corrupted into 厂 instead.
Compare 度 (OC *daːɡs, *daːɡ) and 庶 (OC *hljaɡs).
Etymology unclear. Various theories have been proposed:
* Wang (1982) relates this to 藉 (OC *zjaːɡs, *zjaːɡ), 蒩 (OC *ʔsaː, *ʔsaːʔ, *sʰa), 薦 (OC *ʔseːns).
* Schuessler (2007), reconstructing this word minimally as *s-lak, relates this word to 莽 (OC *mlaʔ, *mlaŋʔ, “grass”).
* Baxter and Sagart (2014) derive it from a root *tak (“to place”), with circumstantial noun prefix *s-, literally “place for putting things”.

Han compound

Classifier for seats (members) in a meeting.


弊

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *beds) and ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): phonetic 敝 (OC *beds, *bed, “destroy, tatters”) + semantic 廾 (“both hands”): emphatic form of 敝 — destroying something with both hands.

Han compound

bai⁶ laa³! m⁴ gei³ dak¹ daai³ ngan⁴ baau¹ tim¹.

弊喇！唔記得帶銀包添。

弊喇！唔记得带银包添。

(Cantonese) bad; awful; terrible; (of a situation) critical or disastrous


廉

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡ·rem): semantic 广 + phonetic 兼 (OC *keːm, *keːms).

Han compound

亷
㢘
槏
𠪊
𤎉
𠪕
𢉧
𢋯
𠔳


尼

Characters in the same phonetic series (尼) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意). The character does not appear as an independent character in the oracle bone script but appears as a component of 𢓚 and 秜. The character shows a man (尸) sitting on or leaning on another man (匕), giving the original meaning of “to stop” or “close; intimate”; the derivative 昵 refers to the latter meaning.
Shuowen Jiezi considered it as a phono-sematic compound, but this is widely discredited by later scholars.
Compare 化, 比, 北, and 卬.
; "Buddhist nun"
Clipping of 比丘尼 (bǐqiūní), from Sanskrit भिक्षुणी (bhikṣuṇī, “female beggar”) or Pali bhikkhunī (“female beggar”). Compare Sanskrit भिक्षु (bhikṣu, “beggar”).

zh-l

比丘尼 (bǐqiūní)

der

中尼邊界

中尼边界

Used in transcription.
Short for 尼泊爾／尼泊尔 (Níbó'ěr, “Nepal”).


崎

Homophonous with 徛 (“to stand”) in most surveyed varieties of Hakka.


幅

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *prɯɡ, *pɯɡ): semantic 巾 (“clothing”) + phonetic 畐 (OC *pʰrɯɡ, *bɯɡ).

Han compound

(Cantonese, Hainanese, Nanning Pinghua) Classifier for walls.


彪

^‡ Asian golden cat (Catopuma temminckii)

(literary, by extension) to be full of literary grace or bright colors

(figuratively, of a person) big and tall; strong; stalwart


忐

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 上 (“up”) + 心 (“heart”). Compare 忑 (OC *l̥ʰɯːɡ).

och-l

忑 (OC *l̥ʰɯːɡ)


廢

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *pads): semantic 广 (“house”) + phonetic 發 (OC *pad).
During the Zhou–Qin period, 灋 (OC *pqab) and 法 (OC *pqab) were used to represent 廢.
Related to 乏 (OC *bob, “to lack; to neglect”). Cognate with Tibetan འབབ ('bab, “to go down; to move downward; to descend; calamity”), འབེབས ('bebs, “to cause to fall; to bring down”) (Schuessler, 2007). Also compare Thai บอบ (bɔ̀ɔp, “weak, worn out, run down”) (ibid.).

cog

Alternative form of 發／发 (“to take place; to happen”)


射

bronze inscriptions
clerical script
oracle bone script

In the oracle bone script, an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 弓 (“bow”) + 矢 (“arrow”) – to shoot a bow. In the bronze inscriptions, a hand (又) drawing the bowstring was added. Hence, a conservative variant is 𢎤.
Later the bow and arrow on the left became 身 before or during the clerical script period, and the hand came to be written 寸.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *g/b/m-la-j (“bow, arrow”); cognate with Tibetan མདའ (mda', “arrow”), Burmese မြား (mra:, “arrow”) (STEDT; Schuessler, 2007; Hill, 2013).


巷

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡroːŋs): phonetic 共 (OC *kloŋ, *ɡloŋs) + semantic 己 (“oneself”)
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *grwaŋ (“village; crossroads”) (STEDT). Cognate with Tibetan གྲོང (grong, “house; village; town”). Old Khmer កុរុង (kuruṅ, “to rule; ruler; king”) (whence Khmer ក្រុង (krong) and Thai กรุง (grung)) is probably unrelated (Schuessler, 2007).
Wu 弄 (lon, “alley”) and Jin 黑浪 (heh4 lon2, “hutong”) are dialectal variants which support the Old Chinese *gr- initial cluster of 巷 (OC *ɡroːŋs) (Schuessler, 2007). Compare also 衚衕／胡同 (hútòng, “hutong”).


徽

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *hmɯl): abbreviated phonetic 微 (OC *mɯl) + semantic 糸 (“cloth”).

Han compound

(of the guqin) white dots made of mother-of-pearl inlaid onto the surface board, marking the harmonic positions


帝

Pictogram (象形). Possible interpretations:
* The sepal of a flower; original form of 蒂 (OC *teːds, “stem; peduncle”).
* Tied-up firewood perhaps used as a sacrifice; original form of 禘 (OC *deːɡs).
* An altar; original form of 禘 (OC *deːɡs).
* An asterism joining three stars of Ursa Major with three of Ursa Minor, together with Thuban and Kochab. Around 2000 BCE the three top-to-bottom lines would have crossed at the north celestial pole, where the god 帝 dwelt (Pankenier, 2004).
The character's first attested use is for “God of Heaven”; it was later used as a title for emperors. Shuowen erroneously interprets the character to be a phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *teːɡs): semantic 丄 (“up; above”) + phonetic 朿 (OC *sʰeɡs).
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *teɣ (“God”); compare Tibetan ཐེ (the, “celestial gods of the Bon religion”), Jingpho [script needed] (mə³¹-tai³³, “god of the sky”), Proto-Bodo-Garo *mɯ-Dai⁴ (“spirit; god”) (Coblin, 1986; Schuessler, 2007; Sagart, 2011). Cognate with 禘 (OC *deːɡs, “a kind of sacrifice”) (Schuessler, 2007).
Alternatively, Sagart (1999) derives it from a root *tek (“to be master over; to rule over”), whence also 適 (OC *ᵃtek, “to rule; to control”), 嫡 (OC *ᵃtek, “son of principal wife”).

cog

反帝鬥爭

反帝斗争

帝國主義 帝國主義#Chinese

帝国主义 帝国主义#Chinese

Short for 帝國主義／帝国主义 (dìguózhǔyì, “imperialism”).


序

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ljaʔ): semantic 广 + phonetic 予 (OC *la, *laʔ).

Han compound

preface (of a book); foreword (Classifier: 篇)


屙

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声): semantic 尸 + phonetic 阿.
From a substrate Kra-Dai language. Compare Zhuang ok (“to emit, to produce, to defecate, to urinate, to fart”).

cog

He has diarrhea every time he eats ice cream.

keoi⁵ ci³ ci³ sik⁶ syut³ gou¹ dou¹ wui⁵ o¹ gaa³.

佢次次食雪糕都會屙㗎。

佢次次食雪糕都会屙㗎。


征

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *tjeŋ): semantic 彳 + phonetic 正 (OC *tjeŋ, *tjeŋs, “straight”). Also ideogrammic compound (會意／会意).
Simplified from 徵 (徵 → 正) as well as existing already as a traditional character.
From 正 (OC *tjeŋ, *tjeŋs, “straight”); see there for more.

Han compound

to go on a punitive expedition; to invade; to attack; to conquer


徐

desc

→ English: Xu, Hsu, Chui, Tsui, Zee, Chee

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *lja): semantic 彳 (“walk slowly”) + phonetic 余 (OC *la)


帆

→ Vietnamese: buồm (“sail”)

Characters in the same phonetic series (凡) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *bom, *boms): semantic 巾 (“cloth”) + phonetic 凡 (OC *bom).
Related to 篷 (OC *boːŋ) (same word in the colloquial layer of Min), and probably related to 風 (OC *plum, “wind”) (Karlgren, 1957); if so, it may be from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *buŋ (“wind”) (STEDT).

Han compound

㠶
忛
𤖫
䑺
𩗋
颿
篷


彙

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɢruds): semantic 㣇 + abbreviated phonetic 胃 (OC *ɢuds).
;hedgehog
:Its graph is also used to 彙／汇 (huì, “category, class”), which is perhaps a variant of 類／类 (lèi) without the latter's l- initial. Also note 彙／汇 (huì, “hedgehog”)'s Cantonese pronunciation leoi⁶.(Bodman, 1980; Schuessler, 2007)
:Sino-Tibetan; cognate with Mizo kuh (“porcupine's quill, porcupine”) and Mizo sakuh (“porcupine”). In Tibeto-Burman cognates *k- is seemingly a prefix.(Schuessler, 2007)
;category, class
:If 彙 (OC *wəs) were related to 類 (OC *rus), it may be a form whose initial *r- had been treated as a prefix and dropped.

cog

汇
彚
𢑥
𢑷
𢑭
𢑤
𣉰
𢍖
𡻼
蝟

彙毛刺

汇毛刺

Alternative form of 蝟／猬 (wèi, “hedgehog”)


州

→ Lü: ᦵᦋᦲᧁᧈ (tsoew¹)

→ Manchu: ᠵᡝᠣ (jeo)

→ Mongolian: ᠵᠧᠦ (ǰēü), жүү (žüü)

→ Khotanese: -cū

→ Old Turkic: 𐰲𐰆𐰉 (čub¹)


徙

The erroneous variant form 𢓊 (left) and ancient form 𡲴 (right) in small seal script, as depicted within the Shuowen Jiezi.
During the Zhou dynasty, 徙 was represented with the phonetic borrowing 屎 (OC *hliʔ, *hri, “excrement”), with the components 辵 and 止 later being added to differentiate the character used to represent "migration". During the Warring States period, the earlier forms of 屎 consisting of 小 or 少 components (as seen in and ) had these portions transform into 米, however 徙 continued to retain the 少 form. The Chu script form of 屎 corrupted into a form with the 尸 ("body") component becoming 尾 ("tail"), while the Qin script form of 徙 omitted the 尸 component of 屎 and left only 少 remaining. Li Shoukui (2015) however argues that the Chu script ⿸尾少 may not actually be cognate to ⿸尸少 (and ergo 屎). The clerical script form inherited the Qin script form, however had the 少 component mutate into another 止, which coincidentally resulted in the clerical form matching the same character structure as 歨 (the Shang dynasty form of 步) with an additional 彳 component.
Shuowen Jiezi erroneously takes this mutated clerical script form of 徙 with two 止 components, and claims that it is a phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *selʔ): semantic 辵 (“walk”) + phonetic 止 (OC *kjɯʔ). It also omits one of the 止 components to create an alternative form 𢓊, however no such character exists in ancient writing (although coincidentally it has a similar shape to the Shang and Zhou 延). Hu Houxuan (1981) states that the "ancient script" form of 徙 in Shuowen, 𡲴, comes from a corruption of the variant form featuring 尾 in place of 尸, but with the tail portion misrepresented as 火. For this reason, the "ancient script" forms of 徙 provided in Shuowen are extremely corrupted.
Li Jiahao (2010) notes that the ancient form of 屎, namely ⿸尸少, may potentially suggest that 徙 is a phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *selʔ): semantic 辵 (“walk”) + abbreviated phonetic 沙 (OC *sraːl, *sraːls).

Han compound

𨑭
𰺵
𨗬
𡲴
𢓊
𢒲
𨖤
𨔀
𡕝
𨕄


如

Sino-Xenic (如):
* → Vietnamese: như (如)

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) and phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *nja, *njas): phonetic 女 (OC *naʔ, *nas, “woman”) + semantic 口 (“mouth”) – a woman obeying an order.
Sino-Tibetan; compare Mru [script needed] (na, “to be so”), Mizo na nâ nâ (“it being so; since”) (Schuessler, 2007). Also compare Old Mon [script needed] (ñaṅ, “resembling; like”) (ibid.).

cog

比如

Confucius has given detailed testimonials to ancient paragons of virtue and wisdom, such as Taibo of Wu, Boyi, and others of their kind.

The Records of the Grand Historian, by Sima Qian, c. 91 BCE

Kǒngzǐ xùliè gǔ zhī rén shèng xián rén, rú Wú Tàibó, Bóyí zhī lún, xiáng yǐ.

孔子序列古之仁聖賢人，如吳太伯、伯夷之倫，詳矣。

孔子序列古之仁圣贤人，如吴太伯、伯夷之伦，详矣。


庸

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *loŋ) and ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): abbreviated semantic 庚 + phonetic 用 (OC *loŋs).

Han compound

Ziyi held the earldom for fourteen years; those who took measures to call in your lordship, how did they not show a divided allegiance?

Zǐyí zàiwèi, shísì nián yǐ; ér móu zhào jūn zhě, yōng fēi èr hū?

子儀在位，十四年矣；而謀召君者，庸非貳乎？

子仪在位，十四年矣；而谋召君者，庸非贰乎？

(literary, rhetorical question) how; how can it be that (used in rhetorical questions)


帽

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (帽):
* → Japanese: 帽(ぼう) (bō)
* → Vietnamese: mạo (帽)

→ Bouyei: maauh

→? Lao: ໝວກ (mūak)

desc

→? Proto-Mon-Khmer: *muuk ~ muək (“hat”)

→? Thai: หมวก (mùuak)

→ Vietnamese: mũ

→ Zhuang: mauh

/ᵐbau³²⁻³²⁵/

/ᵐbau³²⁻³²⁵/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *muːɡs): semantic 巾 (“cloth”) + phonetic 冒 (OC *muːɡs, *mɯːɡ).
Wanderwort of Southeastern and Eastern Asia, thus its origin is disputed.
Possibly from Sino-Tibetan. It has been compared to Tibetan རྨོག (rmog, “helmet”) (Starostin; Sagart, 2017) and Rgyalrongic forms for “mushroom” (cf. Breton tog-touseg, literally “frog hat”), such as Japhug tɤjmɤɣ (Zhang, Jacques and Lai, 2019).
Alternatively, Schuessler (2007) suggests an Austroasiatic derivation since this is a relatively late word and Shuowen defines 冃 (an ancient form of 帽) as “head cover” of the Southern indigenous people, which may allude to a southern origin. Compare Proto-Mon-Khmer *muuk ~ muək (“hat”), whence Mon ဒမှော် (həmok, “wide hat”) and Khmer មួក (muək), which he also connects to 鍪 (OC *mu, “metal cap; helmet”). Also compare Thai หมวก (mùuak), which Schuessler (2007) derives from the Khmer word. However, Alves (2018) considers it likely for the Proto-Mon-Khmer word to be a loan from Chinese, and Alves (2020) also suggests that the Tai forms spread from Chinese.
Often considered to be related to 冒 (OC *muːɡs, “to cover”) (Wang, 1982; Starostin), though Schuessler (2007) thinks that it may be reinterpreted as such based on parallel development of 被 (OC *bralʔ, *brals, “to cover; bedding”).

och-l

(Hong Kong Cantonese, neologism, slang) Short for 戴綠帽／戴绿帽 (“to cuckold”).


庭

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *l'eːŋ): semantic 广 + phonetic 廷 (OC *l'eːŋ, *l'eːŋʔ).
Related to 挺 (OC *l'eːŋ, *l'eːŋʔ, “to stick out, straighten up; straight, stiff; quite”); see there for more (STEDT). The semantic shift to "courtyard" may be due to courtyards being areas for upright behavior.


定

→ Thai: เที่ยง (tîiang)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *teːŋs, *deːŋs): semantic 宀 + phonetic 正 (OC *tjeŋ, *tjeŋs)
Possibly related to Burmese တည် (tany, “to lie in repose; to build, form, establish”) (Luce, 1981).

cog

(～母) (Chinese linguistics) the Middle Chinese initial of 定 (MC dengH)


帖

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *tʰeːb): semantic 巾 (“a square item of cloth”) + phonetic 占 (OC *ʔljem, *tjems).


帖

→ Thai: เทียบ (tîiap) (via Hakka)

/tʰiːp̚³⁻³⁵/

/tʰiːp̚³⁻³⁵/

Classifier for doses of herbal medicine.


帖

copybook; model; rubbing (for practicing calligraphy or painting)


幽

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *qɯw): phonetic 𢆶 () + semantic 山 (originally 火 in oracle bone).
Sino-Tibetan. Cognate with Mru [script needed] (iu ~ ʔiu, “dark”) (Löffler, 1966); possibly also related to Tibetan གཡོག (g.yog, “to cover”) and གཡོགས (g.yogs, “lid”) (Schuessler, 2007).
Related to 黝 (yǒu), 窅 (yǎo), 杳 (yǎo), 穾 (yào), 窔 (yào).
Allofam is probably 窈窕 (OC *qiːwʔ l'eːwʔ) (ibid.).


娃

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *qreː): semantic 女 + phonetic 圭 (OC *kʷeː).

Han compound

娃子


寡

Shuowen
Warring States period
Western Zhou period
bronze script

In the bronze script from the Western Zhou period, it was originally an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 宀 (“house”) + 頁 (“head”) — only one person in the house; alone.
In the bronze script from the Warring States period, two decorative strokes were added around 頁. The seal script found in Shuowen adds two additional strokes, making the component under 宀 appear as 分 and 頁, leading Shuowen to erroneously interpret the character as an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 宀 (“house”) + 頒 (“to distribute”).
Related to 鰥 (OC *kruːn, *kruːns, “widower”), 孤 (OC *kʷaː, “orphan; alone”) (Schuessler, 2007). Cognate with Tibetan དགོན་པ (dgon pa, “solitary place; desert; wilderness”), Tibetan སྒོས (sgos, “private; individual”).

cog

寡德之人


廟

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (廟):
* → Japanese: 廟(びょう) (byō)
* → Korean: 묘(廟) (myo)
* → Vietnamese: miếu (廟)

→ Proto-Be: *miːwᴮꟲ²

Lingao: miu⁴

desc

→ Lü: ᦶᦖᧁᧈ (ṁaew¹)

→ Lü: ᦶᦖᧁᧈ (ṁaew¹)

/miːu̯²²⁻³⁵/

/ᵐbiau³²⁻³²⁵/

/miːu̯²²⁻³⁵/

/ᵐbiau³²⁻³²⁵/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *mrews): semantic 广 + phonetic 朝 (OC *ʔr'ew, *r'ew).
Possibly related to Proto-Hmong-Mien *prəuX (“house”), whence White Hmong tsev (“idem”) (Schuessler, 2007). Note also Burmese မြို့ (mrui., “town, city”).

Han compound

(architecture, religion) temple (Classifier: 座; 間／间)

廟小妖風大，池淺王八多／庙小妖风大，池浅王八多

miào xiǎo yāofēng dà, chí qiǎn wángbā duō


彘

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) and phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *l'eds): semantic 豕 (“pig; boar”) + phonetic 矢 (OC *hliʔ, “arrow”) – a wild boar being shot by an arrow (as opposed to a domesticated pig)
From Kra-Dai; compare Proto-Kam-Sui *ʔdlaːi⁵ (“wild pig”), Proto-Hlai *C-ləc (“wild boar”) (Schuessler, 2007).


干

Pictogram (象形) of a shield with feather ornaments on top; in some versions in oracle bones, the central and flat part of the shield can be seen as 回.
As an alternative, it's possible 干 and 單 are variant forms of the same character in oracle bone script due to their similar shapes and its appearence in the original forms of 敢. Hence, 干 would depict a bifurcated hunting weapon, not a shield. But 單 has two dots on top that depict two stones, while these two dots are absent in 干.
Also borrowed phonetically as a simplification of 乾 (dry) and 幹. See also 盾 (the pictogram of another shield) and its possible differentiation 古.
The interpretation that links this pictogram to a pestle is folk etymology. Unrelated to 午, which however represents a pestle.
Sino-Tibetan. Cognate with 扞 (OC *ɡaːns, “to shield; to protect”), 閈 (OC *ɡaːns, “gate”), 捍 (OC *ɡaːns, *ɡraːnʔ, “to shield, ward off”). Compare Tibetan འགལ ('gal, “to go against, to violate, to contradict”), Burmese ကာ (ka, “shield; to shield; to block”).

cog

江干

河干

8th tetragram of the Taixuanjing; "opposition" (𝌍)

Short for 天干 (tiāngān, “heavenly stem”).

Gānyuè yíhé zhī zǐ, shēng ér tóng shēng, cháng ér yì sú, jiào shǐ zhī rán yě.

干越夷貉之子，生而同聲，長而異俗，教使之然也。

干越夷貉之子，生而同声，长而异俗，教使之然也。


崩

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *pɯːŋ): semantic 山 (“mountain”) + phonetic 朋 (OC *bɯːŋ) – to collapse (of a mountain).

cog

Proto-Kuki-Chin *poŋ (“to come off, unloose, fall off”)

Mizo [Term?] (phàwng-I, phâwn-II, “to come or fall off, be uprooted (as tree)”)

被難

to be killed in a disaster, political incident


建

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 廴 + 聿. The left component was originally written as ∟.
Originally, a pictogram (象形) — a hand planting a pole into a base (Ji Xusheng, 2004).


客

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (客):
* → Japanese: 客(きゃく) (kyaku)
* → Korean: 객(客) (gaek)
* → Vietnamese: khách (客)

→ English: Khek (“Hakka”)

→ Proto-Hmong-Mien: *khæk (“guest”)

White Hmong: qhua (“guest”)

→ Lao: ແຂກ (khǣk, “guest”)

desc

→ Thai: แขก (kɛ̀ɛk, “guest”), แคะ (kɛ́, “Hakka”)

→ Vietnamese: Hẹ (“Hakka”)

→ Zhuang: hek (“guest; tourist”), hak (“government official”)

/t͡ɕʰi̯ɛ²¹⁴/

/t͡ɕʰi̯ɛ²¹⁴/

Characters in the same phonetic series (各) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kʰraːɡ): semantic 宀 (“roof”) + phonetic 各 (OC *klaːɡ) – a guest.
Probably belongs to the word family of 格 (OC *klaːɡ, *kraːɡ, “to go, to come”). Schuessler (2007) cites Tibetan དགྲ (dgra, “enemy”) as a possible cognate.


尿

/n̠ʲi̯ɒu̯²¹/

/n̠ʲi̯ɒu̯²¹/

Pictogram (象形) in the oracle bone script - an urinating man. In the seal script, it became an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 尾 (“tail”) + 水 (“water”). 尾 later simplified into 尸 (“body”).
Related to Proto-Tai *niəwᴮ (“urine”) (Schuessler, 2007).


恢

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *km̥ʰɯː): semantic 忄 (“heart”) + phonetic 灰 (OC *hmɯː).


彭

→ English: Peng, P'eng, Pang, Pee

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 壴 (“drum”) + 彡 (“visualization of the sound of drumming”) – sound of drumming.
Shuowen considers it to be a phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声) where 彡 (OC *sroːm, *slom) acts as the phonetic component.

彭德懷

彭德怀


局

Pictogram (象形). It represents the shape of a deceased person's limbs being bent and buried. This practice of burying the body in a crouched position symbolizes "to bend," and by extension, "to shrink" or "to contract."

騙局／骗局

Nguāi ké̤ṳk-*guŏng-góng guŏh-kó̤ / [ŋuai³³ kʰyʔ²⁴⁻²¹ kuoŋ⁵⁵⁻⁵³ ⁽ᵏ⁻⁾ŋouŋ²¹³ kuoʔ⁵⁻²¹ ^((kʰ-))ɔ²¹³]

我乞光棍局去。


嶺

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *reŋʔ): semantic 山 (“mountain”) + phonetic 領 (OC *reŋʔ).
Compare 陵 (OC *rɯŋ, “mound; hill”).

Han compound

嶺南

岭南

(specifically) Nanling Mountains; Wuling


弦

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡeːn): semantic 弓 (“bow”) + phonetic 玄 (OC *ɡʷeːn).

Han compound

(music) stringed instruments or music played by stringed instruments


悄

/t͡ɕʰi̯ɑʊ̯⁵⁵/

/t͡ɕʰi̯ɑʊ̯²¹⁴/

/t͡sʰiːu̯³⁵/

/t͡sʰiːu̯¹³/

/t͡sʰiːu̯³³/

/t͡ɕʰi̯ɑʊ̯⁵⁵/

/t͡ɕʰi̯ɑʊ̯²¹⁴/

/t͡sʰiːu̯³⁵/

/t͡sʰiːu̯¹³/

/t͡sʰiːu̯³³/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *sʰewʔ): semantic 忄 (“heart”) + phonetic 肖 (OC *slew, *slews).


彎

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (彎):
* → Japanese: 彎(わん) (wan)
* → Korean: 만(彎) (man)
* → Vietnamese: loan (彎)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *qroːn): semantic 弓 (“bow”) + phonetic 䜌 (OC *b·roːn, *b·ron, *b·rons).
May be cognate with 迂 (OC *qʷa, *qʷaʔ, *ɢʷa).
; “homosexual”

Han compound

Classifier for bent objects, such as a quarter moon.


尾

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 尸 (“person”) + 毛 (“hair; feather”).
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *r-maj ~ m-raj (“tail; penis”) (STEDT). Cognate with Mizo mei (“tail”), Tibetan རྨེད (rmed, “tail; crupper of straddle”), Chepang मेः (meʔ, “tail”), Burmese အမြီး (a.mri:, “tail”).

cog

2022, “过想看见你”, 李立群 (lyrics), 郑伊洋 (music)performed by 张滢:

I want to see you be like a carefree little fish

ua² guê³ sion⁶ toin² gin³ le², siao⁶ zêg⁸ bhuê² ze⁶ iu⁵ ze⁶ zai⁶ gai⁵ sio² he⁵

我过想看见你，肖一尾自由自在个小鱼

我過想看見你，肖一尾自由自在個小魚

Classifier for fish, snakes, shrimps, etc. ⇒ all nouns using this classifier

Twenty-Eight Mansions
w:Twenty-Eight Mansions

(～宿) (Chinese astronomy) Tail (one of Twenty-Eight Mansions)


怎

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声): phonetic 乍 (OC *zraːɡs) + semantic 心 (“heart”).
First attested in the word 怎生 [10th c.] (Yuan et al., 1996).
Contraction of 作 (MC tsak) + some variant of 物 (MC mjut, “thing; what”), literally “to do what” (Norman, 1988). This is evidenced in forms found in the Tang and Song dynasties (Yuan et al., 1996): 作勿生 (MC tsak mjut sraeng) [8th c.], 作沒生 (MC tsak mwot sraeng) [8th c.], 作摩 (MC tsak ma) [10th c.], 作麼 (MC tsak maX) [10th c.].


川

/ʈ͡ʂʰu̯än⁵⁵/

/ʈ͡ʂʰu̯än⁵⁵/

Pictogram (象形) – compare 水 (OC *qʰʷljilʔ), 川, and 𡿧.
The Middle and Old Chinese reconstruction of this word is phonologically problematic (STEDT):
* Karlgren (1957) notes that the Middle Chinese form is irregular based on evidence from Shijing rimes.
* Based on velar contacts in the same phonetic series, e.g. 巛, 甽 and 訓, Baxter (1992) and Schuessler (2007) reconstruct the word with a velar initial (Handel, 1998; Sagart, 1999), which undergoes irregular palatalization in the development to Middle Chinese (Baxter, 1992).
* Based on other characters in the same phonetic series, e.g. 順 and 馴, Sagart (1999), and later, Baxter and Sagart (2014), reconstructs 川 with a lateral initial and suggests that only a *t- prefix would account for the Middle Chinese initial /t͡ɕʰ/.
Schuessler (2007) relates this word to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *kl(j)u(ŋ/k) (“river; valley”), whence 江 (OC *kroːŋ, “river”), 谷 (OC *kloːɡ, “valley”), Tibetan ཀླུང (klung, “river”), Burmese ချောင်း (hkyaung:, “stream”). STEDT notes that this does not account for the *-n coda.
STEDT instead compares it to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *m-t(w)əj-n ~ m-ti-s (“water; fluid; liquid; river; soak; spit”), whence 涕 (OC *tʰiːlʔ, “tears”), Proto-Kuki-Chin *tuj (“water; fluid; liquid”), Chepang तीः (“water; rain; river”); this depends on a reconstruction with a dental initial and requires positing an *‑n suffix not present in Tibeto-Burman languages.

cog

川菜

Short for 四川 (Sìchuān, “Sichuan Province, China”).

挺川

川粉

(Internet slang, Taiwanese Mandarin) Short for 川普 (Chuānpǔ, “Donald Trump”).


恕

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *hnjas): phonetic 如 (OC *nja, *njas) + semantic 心 (“heart”).

Han compound

Zi Gong asked, saying, "Is there one word which may serve as a rule of practice for all one's life?" The Master said, "Is not RECIPROCITY / EMPATHY such a word? What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others."

The Analects of Confucius, c. 475 – 221 BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

Zǐgòng wèn yuē: “Yǒu yī yán ér kě yǐ zhōngshēn xíng zhī zhě hū?” Zǐ yuē: “Qí shù hū! Jǐ suǒ bù yù, wù shī yú rén.”

子貢問曰：「有一言而可以終身行之者乎？」子曰：「其恕乎！己所不欲，勿施於人。」

子贡问曰：「有一言而可以终身行之者乎？」子曰：「其恕乎！己所不欲，勿施于人。」

put oneself in someone's shoes
put oneself in someone's shoes

to show consideration for others; to put oneself in someone's shoes


忠

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *tuŋ): phonetic 中 (OC *tuŋ, *tuŋs) + semantic 心 (“heart”).
Cognate with Tibetan གཞུང་བ (gzhung ba, “to attend; to be heedful”). Perhaps the same word as 中 (OC *tuŋ, *tuŋs) (Schuessler, 2007).