馬

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (馬):
* → Japanese: 馬(ば) (ba)
* → Korean: 마(馬) (ma)
* → Vietnamese: mã (馬, “(xiangqi) horse; (chess) knight”)

desctree

→ Proto-Tai: *maːꟲ (“horse”)
Northern Tai
Bouyei: max
Zhuang: max
Central Tai
Tày: mạ
Nùng: mạ
Nong Zhuang: max
Proto-Southwestern Tai:
Ahom: 𑜉𑜠 (ma), 𑜉𑜡 (mā), 𑜉𑜡𑜠 (māa)
Thai: ม้า (máa)
Northern Thai: ᨾ᩶ᩣ
Lao: ມ້າ (mā)
Lü: ᦙᦱᧉ (maa²)
Tai Dam: ꪣ꫁ꪱ
Shan: မႃႉ (mâ̰a)
Tai Nüa: ᥛᥣᥳ (mȧa)

desc

→ Thai: เบ๊ (bée, “horse”) (via Teochew)

Cursive script (East Asia)
Semi-cursive script

Pictogram (象形) – a horse with its head facing the left, showing a flowing mane in the wind. In the bronze inscriptions, the head was often simplified into an eye (目 (mù)). The legs eventually evolved into four dots (灬 (huǒ), unrelated to 火 (huǒ)).
Contrast with 鹿 (lù, “deer”), which saw a very different development, and 𢊁 (as in 薦／荐 (jiàn)), which is a hybrid: it has the legs of 馬 (灬 (huǒ)) but the head of 鹿 (lù).
“Horse” – from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *k-m-raŋ ~ s-raŋ. The sense of “big” is derived from “horse”; compare the English uses of horse.
For the insect prefix sense, see 螞／蚂. It has converged with the sense of “big”.
The surname is popularly known to be prevalent among Hui Muslims, where it is likely derived from Arabic مُحَمَّد (muḥammad, “Muhammad”), although the surname 馬 itself predates Islam.

马
𫠉
傌
𢒗
𢒠
𢒧
𩡬
𩡮
抹
碼

阿胡拉·馬茲達

Āhúlā Mǎzīdá

阿胡拉·马兹达

Āhúlā Mǎzīdá

馬斯特里赫特

Mǎsītèlǐhètè

Ma Bufang (Chinese warlord and member of Ma clique)

馬步芳

马步芳

Ma Ying-jeou (President of the Republic of China (Taiwan), 2008-2016)

馬英九

马英九


車

/t͡sʰø²¹³⁻⁵⁵/

/t͡sʰø²¹³⁻⁵⁵/

Pictogram (象形) – originally a carriage seen from above. In the oracle bone script, there were large wheels on both sides and a sun shade on the top. Later, when Chinese characters were written vertically, the wheels on both sides were simply drawn in strokes and the loading area was marked with a 田 (OC *l'iːŋ). Therefore, it is important to understand that the current character, 車 (OC *kʰlja, *kla) is a vertical depiction of a carriage.
Note that 倝 (OC *kaːns) and 朝 (OC *ʔr'ew, *r'ew) are not derived from 車 (OC *kʰlja, *kla).
Perhaps a loan from an Indo-European language because the horse and chariot were introduced into China around 1200 BC from Inner Asia; compare Tocharian A kukäl, Tocharian B kokale (“wagon; cart”) (Mair, 1990, Bauer, 1994), from Proto-Tocharian *kuk(ä)le, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷékʷlos, a form of *kʷel- (“to turn”). Cognate with English wheel, Ancient Greek κύκλος (kúklos), Lithuanian kaklas (“neck”), etc.
An older variant survives in Mandarin 軲轆／轱辘 (gūlu, “wheel”) (Bauer, 1994). Alternatively, the word is a derivation by k-prefix from 舁 (OC *la, “to lift”) (Baxter and Sagart, 1998); compare the semantic parallel in Tibetan ཐེག་པ (theg pa, “vehicle; carriage”) (OC *kʰljaʔ, *kʰljas) and 居 (OC *kas) (Schuessler, 2007). Pronunciation 2 is traditionally regarded as the older pronunciation.
The sense of lewd content is derived from 老司機／老司机 (lǎosījī).


月

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (月):
* → Japanese: 月(げつ) (getsu); 月(がつ) (gatsu); 月(がち) (gachi)
* → Okinawan: 月(ぐゎち) (gwachi)
* → Korean: 월(月) (wol)
* → Vietnamese: nguyệt (月), ngoạt (月)

→ Bouyei: nguad (“month”)

→? Thai: งวด (ngûuat, “appointed time”)

→ Zhuang: nyied (“moon; month”)

/ᵑɡut̚³²⁻²¹/

/ᵑɡut̚³²⁻²¹⁵/

/ᵑɡut̚³²⁻²¹/

/ᵑɡut̚³²⁻²¹⁵/

Pictogram (象形) – pictographic representation of a crescent moon. Related to 夕 (xī) and interchangeable in the past, but both are unrelated to 多, in which it represents two pieces of meat stylized as 夕.
Unrelated to:
* 前, in which it represents a boat 舟 (歬 > 𠝣 > 𣦃 > 前);
* 朕, in which it represents a boat again (𦩎 > 𦨶 > 朕)
* 青, in which it represents cinnabar 丹 (𤯞 > 靑 > 青);
* 赢, in which it represents the elongated face of a kind of dragon, perhaps a Panlong;
* 祭 and 將, in which it represents sacrificed meat stylized as 𱼀;
* 然, in which it represents dog meat (肰).
* 肖 and 有, in which it represents just meat.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-ŋʷ(j)a-t (“moon; star”), whence also Magar [Term?] (gya hot, “moon”), Proto-Lolo-Burmese *mwatᴸ (“star; moon”) (whence Lahu məʔ-kə (“star”)), Drung gurmet (“star”) (Matisoff, 1980; LaPolla, 1987; STEDT).
Various alternative etymologies have also been proposed:
* Unger (1992) proposes cognation with Tibetan ངོ (ngo, “waxing and waning moon; half moon”) (as in མར་ངོ (mar ngo, “waning moon”) and ཡར་ངོ (yar ngo, “waxing moon”)), which Schuessler (2007) connects to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-ŋow (“white; light colour”). However, Sagart (1999) points out that the Tibetan word may be analyzed as a derivative of Tibetan ངོ (ngo, “face”), which would mean the semantic connection between “moon” and “face” had to occur either independently in Chinese and Tibetan or in Proto-Sino-Tibetan; it also requires positing a suffix -t in Chinese.
* Pulleybank (1995a) proposes another etymology based on the glyph for 名 (míng) (reconstructed as *màŋʲ), which he analyses as a phono-semantic compound of phonetic 夕 (xī, “moon”) and semantic 口 (kǒu, “mouth”). He suggests that the phonetic component represents a lost word *màŋʲ (“moon”), and reconstructs 月 as *mŋʲ (consonantal frame of “moon”) + *-at (suffix) > *ŋʲʷat. However, there are more straightforward ways of explaining the glyph origin of 名 (míng) (see there), which would nullify the hypothesis of the lost word.
* Related to 越 (“to pass over; to cross over”) in some way.
** Mei (1979) derives 月 from 越 (OC **gjot > *gwjat): **N-gjot > *ngwjat. Also in this proposed word family is 歲 (OC **s-gjots > *skwjadh, “year”). The semantics of this word family is centred around "to pass; to elapse". While Matisoff (1980) seems supportive of this word family, STEDT reconstructs Proto-Sino-Tibetan *grwat (“to travel; to go through”) for 越 and 歲／岁 (suì), separate from the root for 月.
** Ferlus (2012) reconstructs the Old Chinese as *ŋ.wat and puts it in a word family formed from a Chinese root *wat, having a meaning of "circularity" or "circular boundary". This proposed word family includes 越 (OC *wat, “to cross over”), as in "to cross the enclosure of the village", and 外 (OC *ŋ.wat-s, “outside”), as in "out of the enclosure of the village".


秋

/t͡ɕʰi̯oʊ̯⁵⁵/

/t͡sʰi̯əu̯³³/

/t͡ɕʰi̯əu̯³³/

/t͡ɕʰi̯oʊ̯⁵⁵/

/t͡sʰi̯əu̯³³/

/t͡ɕʰi̯əu̯³³/

The oracle bone forms and bronze inscriptions show the pictogram (象形) of a cricket or a locust, sometimes with a fire 火 glyph underneath. In its later form, became a Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *sʰɯw): semantic 禾 (“grain”) + abbreviated phonetic 𤒅 (). Often thought of as an Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 禾 (“grain”) + 火 (“fire”); after harvesting the grain, the fields are burned to kill locusts and their eggs.
Unclear.
Schuessler (2007) minimally reconstructs Old Chinese *tshiu < Proto-Chinese *C-nh(i)u and proposes its cognacy to either:
* 收 (OC *(n)hiu, “to reap, harvest, gather”); or
* 卒 (OC *tsut, “to finish, end, die”), as vegetation dies in autumn; additionally in Zuozhuan, this word's referent was winter's dead vegetation.
Alternatively, Sagart (2023b) relates 秋 (OC *tsʰiw) to 揫 (OC *[dz]iw, “to collect, bring together”), whose Old Chinese reconstruction should possibly be amended to *m-tsʰiw or *m-tsiw.

och-l

*秌
𤇫
𥝛
𥡄
𥡌
𥤚
𥤛
𪺋
𥤠
𪔁
𪚼
𪛁
*龝

秋瑾


狗

Wutunhua: gek

Characters in the same phonetic series (句) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *koːʔ): semantic 犬 (“dog”) + phonetic 句 (OC *koː, *koːs, *kos, *ɡo).
From some language ancestral to modern Hmong-Mien languages, from Proto-Hmong-Mien *qluwˣ (“dog”), perhaps from Proto-Austronesian *(u-)(ŋ)kuɣkuɣ (“dog”) (Norman, 1988; Benedict, 1996).
Alternatively, STEDT derives this from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *d-kʷəj-n (“dog”), whence also 犬 (OC *kʰʷeːnʔ).
Less likely, it may be related to 駒 (OC *ko, “foal”), 羔 (OC *kluː, “lamb”), 𤘽 (“calf”) (Wang, 1982).


零

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (零):
* → Japanese: 零(れい) (rei)
* → Korean: 령(零) (ryeong)
* → Vietnamese: linh (零)

→ Bouyei: lingz

→ Lü: ᦟᦲᧃᧉ (liin²)

→ Zhuang: lingz

/liaŋ²²⁻²²⁵/

/liaŋ²²⁻²²⁵/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *riːŋ, *reːŋ, *reːŋs): semantic 雨 (“rain”) + phonetic 令 (OC *ren, *reŋ, *reŋs, *reːŋ, *reːŋs). On the oracle bone script, only thick raindrops are depicted falling from the sky.
Unclear. Schuessler (2007) proposes several possibilities:
* From Austroasiatic; compare Khmer ភ្លៀង (phliəng, “rain”), from Proto-Mon-Khmer *(p)liɲ ~ *(p)liəɲ ~ (p)liiɲ (“sky, rain”).
* Possibly related to Jingpho marang (“rain”), for which STEDT sets up Proto-Sino-Tibetan *m/s-raŋ (“rain”). Starostin also relates it to this Jingpho word and sets up Proto-Sino-Tibetan *rēŋ (“to drop”), also comparing Tibetan སྤྲིན (sprin, “cloud”) and Burmese ရည် (rany, “liquid; juice”).
* Possibly related to 隕 (OC *ɢunʔ, “to drop”) and 霣 (OC *ɢunʔ, “to rain; to fall down like rain”) if one assumes Proto-Sino-Tibetan *r/s/g-wa (“water; rain”) (or its variant *rwe-) can be simplified to *re- and *we-.
Sense "zero" is introduced in 1248 by Chinese mathematician Li Ye.

inh

〇
𠏡
𡈍
𤅫
𥥋
𮖿
𩂙
霗
𩃞
𩅶
𩆖
𩆼
⿳⻗人𰆊


間

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 門 (“door”) + 日 (“sun”). Originally 閒, moonlight (月) peeking through a door (門) – interstice; space.
The two pronunciations are related, with Pronunciation 2 (間 (OC *kreːns)) being the exoactive of Pronunciation 1 (間 (OC *kreːn)).
Related to:
* 隙 (OC *kʰraɡ, “crack; chink”), 澗 (OC *kreːns, *kraːns, “ravine; brook (between mountains)”) (Wang, 1982);
* 閒 (OC *ɡreːn, “lazy; leisure”) (Karlgren, 1957; Baxter, 1992).
Externally, likely related to Mizo kâr (“space between; interval”), Burmese ကြား (kra:, “in-between; interval; interim”), အကြား (a.kra:, “gap; break”) (Schuessler, 2007).


愛

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (愛):
* → Japanese: 愛(あい) (ai)
* → Korean: 애(愛) (ae)
* → Vietnamese: ái (愛)

→? Proto-Hlai: *ʔəːp (“to love”)

Originally 㤅 (xì), a phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *qɯːds): phonetic 旡 (OC *kɯds) + semantic 心 (“heart”). However, the phonetic component indicates somebody kneeling with an open mouth perhaps while panting.
As early as the Qin dynasty, a meaningless component 夊 (suī, “foot”) was added to the bottom of the character, as with some other characters depicting people. Compare 憂／忧 (yōu) (from 㥑). Hence, the character changed into 𢙴.
Further corruption of the top component of 𢙴 turned the original phonetic 旡 (jì) into ⿱爫冖.
Based on Baxter's (1992) Old Chinese reconstruction /*ʔɨts/, STEDT suggests that it is from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ŋ-(w)aːj (“to copulate; to love; to be gentle”). Compare Proto-Karen *ʔai (“to love”), whence Pa'o Karen [script needed] (ʔái, “to love”), S'gaw Karen အဲၣ် (ʼeh̀, “to love”); Southern Bai e⁴⁴ (“love”); Mizo hma-ngaih (“to love, to like”); Jingpho nwai (“to respect, to love”), ngwi (“to be gentle”); Burmese ငွေ့ (ngwe., “to be gentle, moderate”). The Chinese word is related to a Tibeto-Burman allofam without initial *ŋ-. STEDT states that an Old Chinese reconstruction of /*ʔɨjs/ for 愛 is also possible because Old Chinese rhyming does not provide direct evidence of contacts with *-t.
However, Baxter and Sagart (2014) reconstructs /*[q]ˁə[p]-s/, which ends in *-p-s instead. The Old Chinese contrast between *-p-s and *-t-s was lost at a late stage of Old Chinese. The final *-p is not reflected in the Tibeto-Burman comparandum provided by STEDT, making the likelihood that the Chinese form is related to the rest very low (Sagart, 2019). Behr (2016) suggests a derivation from a verbal root meaning "to draw in; to inhale; to suck in", relating it to 吸 (OC *qʰ(r)əp, “to inhale”), 欱 (OC *qʰˁ[ə]p, “o sip”), 愾 (OC *qʰəp-s, “to sigh with regret”), 僾 (OC *qˁəp-s, “to pant”), 氣 (OC *C.qʰəp-s, “vapour; breath”).

cog

爱
㤅
𢙴
𢛭
𢜤
𤔠
𤔤
𢟪
𢖻
要


青

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (青):
* → Japanese: 青(せい) (sei)
* → Korean: 청(靑) (cheong)
* → Vietnamese: thanh (青)

→ Tocharian A: tseṃ (“blue”)

→ Tocharian B: tseṃ m (“blue”), tseñña f

→ Vietnamese: xanh (“green”)

/t͡sʰi̯aŋ²⁴/

/t͡sʰi̯aŋ⁵⁵/

/t͡sʰi̯aŋ²⁴/

/t͡sʰi̯aŋ⁵⁵/

Second round of simplified Chinese characters

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 生 (“growth of plants”) + 丹 (“cinnabar”); a more conservative variant is 𤯞. Cinnabar was used for dyeing, and by extension, came to imply “color” in general, giving the combined meaning “color of growing plants” → “blue-green”.
In the modern glyph, the top component is reduced to 龶, and the bottom component resembles the unrelated 月 (yuè, “moon”).
The second-round simplified form of the character is based on the calligraphic form of the character.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-riŋ ~ s-r(j)aŋ (“to live; to be alive; to give birth; raw; green”). Cognate with 生 (OC *sʰleːŋ, *sreŋs, “to live”), 蒼 (OC *sʰaːŋ, “green; blue”), 性 (OC *sleŋs, “nature”), 姓 (OC *sleŋs, “surname”). Note 蒼 (OC *sʰaːŋ) may be an old dialect variant of 青 (OC *sʰleːŋ) (Schuessler, 2007).

inh

靑
寈
㞭
𡗡
𡴏
𡴑
𡷉
𤯝
𤯞


蟻

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ŋralʔ): semantic 虫 (“insect”) + phonetic 義 (OC *ŋrals).
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *k/p/s-rwak.


蛇

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (蛇):
* → Japanese: 蛇(じゃ) (ja); 蛇(だ) (da)
* → Okinawan: 蛇(じゃー) (jā)
* → Korean: 사(蛇) (sa)
* → Vietnamese: xà (蛇)

Wutunhua: shai

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *l̥ʰaːl, *ɦljaːl, *lal): semantic 虫 + phonetic 它 (OC *l̥ʰaːl). 它 was also the original pictographic form of this character.
Unclear. Various theories have been proposed:
* Starostin sets up Proto-Sino-Tibetan *lăj (“snake”), comparing this with Mizo hlai-ba (“a species of snake”) and Jingpho palai (“a species of iguana”). He also compares it to Proto-Kam-Sui *dzuːi² (“snake”). Schuessler (2007) considers these Tibeto-Burman forms to be unrelated.
* Matisoff (2003) relates it to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-b/m-ruːl (“snake”), but this comparison is no longer held in STEDT.
* Sagart (2005) relates it to Proto-Loloish *lay¹/² (“python”), which STEDT derives from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *g-lja(ŋ/k) (“python”), as well as Proto-Austronesian *bulay (“snake”). Comparison with the Austronesian form has been challenged by Orlandi (2018).
* Schuessler (2007) notes similarity to Proto-Hlai *ljaːɦ (“snake”) (from Pre-Hlai *Cilaːɦ) as well as to Austronesian words, such as Rade ala (“snake”), but considers the Kra-Dai forms to be possible borrowings from Chinese. (He does not seem to address the Austronesian forms directly.) In his view, a more likely relationship is with the /-lé/ in Khmer រលេ (rɔlei, “sinuously, in a twisting or wiggling manner (as a snake swimming)”). In Old Chinese, this also provides the second syllable in 委蛇 (OC *qrol lal, “winding; compliant; graceful”). 蛇 (“the winding thing”) is then a euphemism for common Sino-Tibetan 虺 (OC *hŋlulʔ, “snake”) for taboo reasons.
* Zhengzhang (2011) relates it to Proto-Austronesian *SulaR (“snake”).

och-l

它
虵
𢕷
𣙛
𤜣
𥝀
𧉮


漢

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

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (漢):
* → Japanese: 漢(かん) (kan)
* → Korean: 한(漢) (han)
* → Vietnamese: Hán (漢)

→ Arabic: هان (hān)

→ Bulgarian: хан (han)

→ English: Han

→ Finnish: Han

→ French: Han

→ German: Han

→ Khmer: ហាន (haan)

→ Polish: Han

→ Portuguese: han

→ Russian: хань (xanʹ), ханец (xanec)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *hnaːns): semantic 水 (“water”) + abbreviated phonetic 暵 (OC *hnaːnʔ, *hnaːns) or 熯 (or 難 according to Xu Shen) – name of a river in China (漢水 or 漢江). Xu Shen links the third contracted phonetic component to the ancient variant 灘. The component to the left as a result of a contraction appears as a variant of 堇, which is the pictogram of a man burned alive as a sacrifice. It is partly unclear whether or not the phonetic component also suggests a morphological feature of the Han river (e.g., a dry river or a river that flows with difficulty) or simply indicates part of the pronounciation; Xu Shen puts no explanation.
A second ancient variant of the character reported by Xu Shen is 㵄 (perhaps analyzable as 淢 and 大).
The usage for the Chinese ethnicity first appeared during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, claiming the Han dynasty as one of the golden ages of Chinese history. Before the Han dynasty, the Chinese referred their land as 華夏 ("Huaxia"), and themselves as 諸華 ("various Hua people") or 諸夏 ("various people/descendants of the Xias"). "Xia" ("Summer; great, splendid") also gave the name to the first semi-legendary Chinese dinasty, the Xia Dinasty (夏朝).

Han compound

漢寶德

汉宝德


朝

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (朝):
* → Japanese: 朝(ちょう) (chō)
* → Korean: 조(朝) (jo)
* → Vietnamese: triêu (朝)

Guo Moruo
Han dynasty
Shuowen
Spring and Autumn period
Warring States period
bamboo and wooden slips

In the oracle bone script, it was an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 2 or 4 屮 (“grass”) or even 木 (“tree”) + 日 (“sun”) + 月 (“moon”) – the sun rising above the ground while the waning moon is still in the sky – the morning.
In the bronze script, it was a compound of 𠦝 and a pictograph of a river (川 or 水) – this was possibly an original form for 潮 (OC *r'ew, “tide”). The river glyph may be a corruption of 月 due to association with tides or diurnal events. Chi (2010) considers such forms to be phono-semantic (形聲／形声), where 𠦝 is the abbreviated form of the phonetic 朝 (OC *ʔr'ew, *r'ew). In the some late Western Zhou forms, 𠦝 was corrupted into a form resembling 車.
According to Guo Moruo, in the stone drum inscriptions (石鼓文 (shígǔwén), likely from the Spring and Autumn period) 㫃 was added (attached to 車), and the river glyph was replaced with 舟 (OC *tjɯw), which was interpreted as the phonetic component; the small seal script might have inherited from this form. Shuowen interpreted the fused components of 𠦝 and 㫃 as a semantic component 倝 (“dawn”). However, the accuracy of identification has been questioned; the character was a heavily weathered one in which the 㫃 identification was probably spurious and likely influenced by the Shuowen. Meanwhile, the 舟 component on the right remained somewhat legible.
The 舟 component remained in the bamboo and wooden slips of the Warring States period (see the table). In the clerical script since the Han dynasty, 舟 had been reverted to 月; it is unclear whether this was a remnant from 月 in the oracle bone script or a corruption of 舟 (as in 朕 < 𦩎 and many other characters). The current form is essentially inherited from the clerical script.
“Morning” > “perform the morning ceremony” > “to go/come to court; to have an audience”. Derivative: 潮 (OC *r'ew, “morning tide”).
Perhaps related to Thai เพรา (prao, “morning”) (Manomaivibool, 1975).


米

Characters in the same phonetic series (米) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Pictogram (象形) – rice kernels.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ma-j ~ mej (“rice; paddy”). Cognate with Garo mi (“rice”), Atong (India) mai (“rice”), Jingpho ma (“rice; paddy”), Rabha মাই (mai), Dimasa mai.

inh

米芾 ― Mǐ Fú ― Mi Fu (Song artist)


僕

In the oracle bone script and the early Western Zhou bronze script, it was a pictogram (象形) of a slave or prisoner, with hands holding a basket (其) to pick up garbage, an instrument of punishment (辛) above the head, and a tail (尾) to represent the slave's low status, akin to animals.
其 later corrupts into 甾, the hands (廾) move below 辛, and the slave's body (人) moves to become the left component. Later, 辛 corrupts into 丵 (probably by fusing with 甾) and combines with 廾 to give 菐 (OC *boːɡ, *puɡ), which functions as a phonetic component.
In the current form, it is essentially a phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *boːɡ, *buːɡ): semantic 人 (“man”) + phonetic 菐 (OC *boːɡ, *puɡ).
Probably related to Tibetan བུ (bu, “son; boy”) (Coblin, 1986).
Alternatively, Peiros and Starostin (1996) compare it to Tibetan ཕྲུག (phrug, “child”).


城

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (城):
* → Japanese: 城(じょう) (jō)
* → Korean: 성(城) (seong)
* → Vietnamese: thành (城)

→ Lao: ຊຽງ (sīang)

→ Lü: ᦵᦋᧂ (tseng)

→ Northern Thai: ᨩ᩠ᨿᨦ

→ Thai: เชียง (chiiang)

→ Zhuang: singz

/siaŋ²²⁻²²⁵/

/siaŋ²²⁻²²⁵/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *djeŋ): semantic 土 (“soil”) + phonetic 成 (OC *djeŋ) since the bricks of the city walls were originally made of stamped earth.
Cognate with 成 (OC *djeŋ, “to complete; city walls”), 盛 (OC *djeŋ, “to hold with a receptacle”), 盛 (OC *djeŋs, “abundant; flourishing”), as 城 (OC *djeŋ, “city wall”) was made of filled-in or stamped earth (Schuessler, 2007). See 成 for more.
Its original meaning was "city walls" and was originally written as 成; later, it started to indicate the city (i.e., the part of territory within the city walls) due to metonymy since a single part of a city indicates the city itself.


士

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (士):
* → Japanese: 士(し) (shi)
* → Korean: 사(士) (sa)
* → Vietnamese: sĩ (士)

Pictogram (象形) – a war axe. Later, it took the meaning of "soldier" and eventually "officer, intellectual". Partly related to 王 since in at least two characters it should represent a ritual axe, perhaps made of jade: in fact, it is related to 圭 and 金 despite their appearence.
;"bachelor, man, male"
:*Reminiscent of Austroasiatic synonyms like Old Khmer si (“male”) or MK words for "man, male" like *ʔŋsiil, *ensir, *kəsəy on the Malay Peninsula; Schuessler (2007) noted that foreign *-r sometimes left traces in OC initial complex. These relations, if, valid, would keep 士₁ "bachelor, man, male" distinct from 士₂ "servant, retainer, officer, scholar".
;"take or give an office, serve", "servant", "retainer", "officer", "scholar"
:*Schuessler (2007) noted that one could naturally assume the semantic development "male > man > servant > to serve" in order to posit that 士₁ "bachelor, man, male" is the same word as 士₂ "servant, retainer, officer, scholar". Yet, the exopassive derivation 事 (OC *ʔsrɯs, *zrɯs) "assignment, affair, thing" and Tibeto-Burman counterparts demonstrated no association with "man, maleness"; & "male" hardly derives from "to serve".
:*Therefore, Schuessler derived these forms from 理 (OC *rɯʔ) "envoy, jail official, matchmaker" & proposed ultimate Austroasiatic origins. In terms of phonology, MC *dʐ- normally does not occur with *l- and *ʂ in an ST word-family, apparently confirming a non-ST provenance; however, MC *dʐ- here could go back to OC *s-r- (unlike MC *ʂ-, which is from OC *sr)
:*Subsequenly, Schuessler posited either relation to Austroasiatic or OC loan into Tibeto-Burman as Proto-Tibeto-Burman *ʔ-dzəj (“send on an errant”) (Matisoff, 2003), whence Burmese စာ (ca, “thing”) & Tibetan རྫས (rdzas, “thing, matter, object”) (Gong, 1999). Even so, Tibeto-Burman cognates of this etymon and 所 (suǒ) are difficult to distinguish.


億

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *qɯɡ): semantic 人 + phonetic 意 (OC *qɯɡs).


象

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (象):
* → Japanese: 象(ぞう) (zō); 象(しょう) (shō)
* → Korean: 상(象) (sang)
* → Vietnamese: tượng (象)

→ Common Turkic: *yaŋan

→ Old Uyghur: 𐽶𐽰𐽺𐽷𐽰 (yaŋa)

→ Western Yugur: jaŋan

→? Bulgar:

→? Chuvash: сӑлан (sălan)

→? Proto-Slavic: *slonъ

→ Kalmyk: зан (zan)

→ Mongolian: заан (zaan)

→ Proto-Tai: *ɟaːŋꟲ (“elephant”)

Lao: ຊ້າງ (sāng)

Lü: ᦋᦱᧂᧉ (tsaang²)

Northern Thai: ᨩ᩶ᩣ᩠ᨦ (cang)

Saek: ซาง

Shan: ၸၢင်ႉ (tsâ̰ang)

Tai Dam: ꪋ꫁ꪱꪉ

Tai Nüa: ᥓᥣᥒᥳ (tsȧang)

Thai: ช้าง (cháang)

desc

→ Proto-Lolo-Burmese: *tsaŋ (“elephant”)

Burmese: ဆင် (hcang)

→ Proto-Monic: *ciiŋ ("elephant")

Mon: စိၚ် (coiŋ)

→ Proto-Vietic: *ʔa-ɟaːŋ (“elephant”)

/t͡sʰuɔŋ²⁴²/

/t͡sʰuɔŋ²⁴²/

Pictogram (象形) - pictographic representation of an elephant. ⺈ represents the trunk, 𫩏 represents the head, and 𧰨 represents the body.
This character is used to represent two semantic fields ‘elephant; tusk’ and ‘to outline; to depict; to delineate; to represent; to resemble; to map’. Both fields are found from the earliest layers of the edited literature onwards, whereas only the first meaning is amply attested in oracle bone inscriptions.
Traditionally, the two senses are treated as related, with the sense of ‘to depict; to resemble’ considered a derivative of the sense of ‘elephant’. The derivation from the ‘elephant’ meaning to the ‘likeness’ meaning is explained in Han Feizi First attested in c. 221 BCE: “Men rarely see living elephants. As they come by the skeleton of a dead elephant, they imagine its living form according to its features. Therefore it comes to pass that whatever people use for imagining the real is called 象.”
Modern etymology studies on Old Chinese have challenged this opinion.
As for the ‘elephant; tusk’ sense, this is a widely used area word in East and Southeast Asia. Literature opinions differ on the origin and immediate relationship of this Chinese word; some (e.g. Schuessler, 2007) believe the Chinese form is a loanword from a Southern language, since it is unlikely that peoples all over Southeast Asia and the Himalayan foothills would borrow a word from Northern China to denote an indigenous animal. Others believe the direction of borrowing is reversed (i.e. Tai-Kadai borrowing from Chinese), and that Chinese 象 should be compared with Tibetan གླང (glang), གླང་ཆེན (glang chen, “elephant”) arising from a common Proto-Sino-Tibetan *glaŋ (“ox, bull; elephant”), which may ultimately have an Austroasiatic origin (Behr, 2004). The second viewpoint is supported by the early attestation of this character and the archaeological findings of the historical ranges of elephants. However, Schuessler disputes that second viewpoint and links ST *glaŋ to 犅 (OC *klaːŋ, “ox, bull”).
See below for a tentative borrowing history of the various forms of this general area word.


君

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (君):
* → Japanese: 君(くん) (kun)
* → Korean: 군(君) (gun)
* → Vietnamese: quân (君)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *klun) and ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): phonetic 尹 (OC *ɢʷlinʔ, “(hand holding a rod) to administer”) + semantic 口 (“mouth”). In the oracle bones and early Zhou bronze inscriptions, 君 (jūn) was often interchanged with 尹. Shuowen suggests that 口 represents commands, but it may simply be decorative.
Unknown. Here are several possibilities:
* Related to Old Mon kmin, kmun (“to exercise royal power; to be king; to reign”) (Schuessler, 2007);
* Related to 尹 (OC *ɢʷlinʔ, “director; governor”) and 元 (OC *ŋon, “head”) and cognate with Tibetan མགོན (mgon, “protector; master; lord”) (Mei Tsu-lin, 1985);
* The *k- prefixed derivative of 尹 (OC *ɢʷlinʔ, “to straighten; to administer”) (Baxter and Sagart, 1998); however, this is phonologically problematic (Schuessler, 2007).
The ACG sense is an orthographic borrowing from Japanese 君 (-kun), which is in turn from Chinese.


百

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (百):
* → Japanese: 百(ひゃく) (hyaku)
* → Korean: 백(百) (baek)
* → Vietnamese: bách (百)

→ Ai-Cham: pek⁷

→ Lao: ປາກ (pāk)

→ Lü: ᦔᦱᧅ (ṗaak)

→ Shan: ပၢၵ်ႇ (pàak)

→ Southern Kam: begs

→ Zhuang: bak

→ Proto-Hmong-Mien: *pæk

Iu Mien: baeqv

Western Xiangxi Miao: bat

White Hmong: pua

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *praːɡ): semantic 一 + phonetic 白 (OC *braːɡ).
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *b-r-gja.


今

Ideogram (指事) – An inverted 曰 (yuē) ("to speak"), hence 亼 with a horizontal stroke at the bottom, so the inverted mouth means "not to speak".
Another theory suggests that it depicts something in the mouth. Maybe the original form of 噤 (OC *ɡrɯmʔ, *ɡrɯms) or 吟 (OC *ŋɡrɯm, *ŋɡrɯms). The derivative 含 (OC *ɡɯːm) refers to the original word.

Etymology not clear. The word's root may be 其 (OC *ɡɯ, “this”) (Schuessler, 2007).

𫢉
⿱𠆢𬼽
𱎜
旦
當
擔
咊


水

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (水):
* → Japanese: 水(すい) (sui)
* → Korean: 수(水) (su)
* → Vietnamese: thuỷ (水)

→ Bai: *ɕui²

Central Bai: xuix

Lama Bai: ɕy³³

Panyi Bai: sy³³

Southern Bai: ɕy³³

Wutunhua: xhui (“water”)

Pictogram (象形) of water flowing; sometimes written as the variant 氺 (e.g., 泰, 录, and 黎). Next to a character, it is compressed and stylized into 氵 (which is unrelated to 冫).
Compare 川 (OC *kʰjon) and its variant 巛. Compare also 永 and its cognate 𠂢. See also the bottom part of 原 in its original version.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *lwi(j) (“flow; stream”) (Benedict, 1974; Coblin, 1986; Handel, 1998; Schuessler, 2007; STEDT). Cognate with Mizo lui (“stream; brook; river”), Tedim Chin [script needed] (luːi³, “stream; river”), Jingpho lawi (“to flow (as water)”).
Old Chinese 水 (*lhuiʔ), as reconstructed by Schuessler, is Sino-Tibetan root's endoactive derivation with suffix *-ʔ, meaning "that which is flowing"; its voiceless initial suggests the presence of a nominalizing prefix *k- or *s-. Another derivative from the Sino-Tibetan root is possibly 泫 (winʔ, “to flow”) (minimally reconstructed).
Compare also areal etymon Proto-Mon-Khmer *lujʔ ~ luuj() ~ luəj() ~ ləəj() (“to wade; to swim”).
Alternatively, Gong (1995) reconstructs Old Chinese *hljədx and compares it to Tibetan ཆུ (chu, “water”), which STEDT derives from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *tsju (“water; liquid; bodily fluid”).
Baxter and Sagart (2014), employing evidence from the Proto-Min form of the Min colloquial variant 沝, reconstructs the latter *turʔ and thereby reconstructs Old Chinese *s.turʔ, and compares it to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *twəj (“to flow; to suppurate”), which is likely related to *m-t(w)əj-n ~ m-ti-s (“water; fluid; to soak; to be wet”) (STEDT). *s.turʔ was then followed by an Eastern dialectal variant, *s.tujʔ, which leads to Early Middle Chinese *sywijX.
Like Gong (1995), Sagart (2017) compares it to Tibetan ཆུ (chu), but he also compares it to Bodo (India) दै (dwi), Mizo tui, Proto-Karen *thejᴬ, all of which STEDT derives from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *m-t(w)əj-n ~ m-ti-s. Handel deems derivations from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *tsju or *m-t(w)əj-n ~ m-ti-s unlikely because of phonological issues (STEDT).


人

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (人):
* → Japanese: 人(にん) (nin); 人(じん) (jin)
* → Korean: 인(人) (in)
* → Vietnamese: nhân (人)

Austroasiatic languages
Shang dynasty
Yueshi culture

Characters in the same phonetic series (人) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Pictogram (象形) – side view of a standing man, highlighting an arm and a leg. Compare 大, 立 (lì), 卩 (jié), 夭, and 氏 according to one interpretation. See also the original version of 年.
亼 is similar but unrelated; it represents an open mouth flipped upside down and appears on top of characters such as 食, 金, 令, 龠, and 今.
It represents a roof in the characters 余, 茶, 舍, and 倉. It represents a flag on a flagpole in 㫃. Eventually, it represents two parallel mountain walls in 谷.
The stylized version to the left of the characters is 亻 (see also 千). Similar but unrelated to 彳.
Sagart (1999) relates it to Tibetan ཉེན (nyen, “relative”), from ཉེ (nye, “near”) + nominalizing suffix -n; if so, from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-naːj ~ s-nej (“near”).
Schuessler (2007) proposes two etymologies:
* Same etymon as 仁 (OC *njin, “to be kind; to be good”), from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s/k-niŋ (“heart; brain; mind”). The semantic association of 仁 with 人 was somewhat late, dated to Mencius's time; later on, 仁 would be usually interpreted as "humane, acting like a human being".
** If so, semantically parallel with Tibetan སེམས་ཅན (sems can, “living being, human, animal”, literally “possessor of mind”); and Latin animalis (“living, having soul”) from anima (“soul”).
* Related to Proto-Mon-Khmer *ɲaʔ ~ *ɲah (“person”) with a nominalizing suffix -n, from the auto-ethnonym of a hostile, possibly Austroasiatic-speaking, eastern people, whom the Sinitic-speaking Shang referred to as 人方 (OC *njin paŋ).

ncog

亻
𠆢
儿
𠂉
几
𠔽
𤯔
𦉫
寧
儂/侬
𠆧

吃得苦中苦，方為人上人／吃得苦中苦，方为人上人

chī de kǔ zhōng kǔ, fāng wéi rén shàng rén


乙

→ Zhuang: iet

Unknown. Different ancient texts propose different origins.
* Pictogram (象形) – a developing plant (Shuowen).
* Pictogram (象形) – the intestine of a fish (Erya).
* Pictogram (象形) – the gill bone of a fish (Liji Zhengyi (《禮記正義》)
The character should not be confused with 𠃉 > 鳦.


八

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (八):
* → Japanese: 八(はち) (hachi)
* → Korean: 팔(八) (pal)
* → Vietnamese: bát (八)

desctree

→ Proto-Tai: *peːtᴰ (“eight”)
Proto-Southwestern Tai: *pɛːtᴰ
Thai: แปด (bpɛ̀ɛt)
Northern Thai: ᨸᩯ᩠ᨯ
Lao: ແປດ (pǣt)
Lü: ᦶᦔᧆᧈ (ṗaed¹)
Tai Dam: ꪵꪜꪒ
Shan: ပႅတ်ႇ (pèt)
Tai Laing: ပျꧥတ်
Tai Nüa: ᥙᥦᥖᥱ (pǎet)
Phake: ပိတ် (pit)
Ahom: 𑜆𑜢𑜄𑜫 (pit)
Northern Tai
Bouyei: beedt
Tai Do: pẹt
Zhuang: bet
Central Tai
Nùng: pẻt
Tày: pét

Characters in the same phonetic series (八) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 八 is two bent lines indicating the original meaning of "to divide". This character is later borrowed to mean "eight" because of homonymy, making the original meaning obsolete (now represented by 分 and 別).
Unrelated to the bottom part of 兵, 共, 具, and 兴, in which it represents two hands holding an object. Also unrelated to 只 and 兑 in which it represents air coming out of a mouth. Unrelated to 貝. Eventually, unrelated to the bottom part of 其, 真, and 典, in which it represents the legs of a table.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *b-r-gjat (“eight”). Compare Tibetan བརྒྱད (brgyad).


丁

→ Zhuang: ding

Pictogram (象形) – different theories exist:
* the head of a nail. The derivative 釘 is now used to represent this sense. This interpretation was formulated by Liu Xinyuan (劉心源), Lin Yiguang (林義光), and Wu Qichang (吳其昌).
* a head. The derivative 天 and 頂 is now used to represent this sense. Characters like 元 contains it as a semantic component. This is interpretation was formulated by Gao Hongjin (高鴻縉) and could be linked to the first interpretation ("head of a nail").
* a city wall. In ancient China, city walls were square-shaped. The derivative 成 and later 城 is now used to represent this sense. The character 正／征 contains it as a semantic component (but in 邑, the top component is 囗, not 丁). This interpretation was formulated by He Linyi (何琳儀).
See also 旦.

Samuel Chao Chung Ting (Chinese-American physicist)

丁肇中

"He was stealing again. This time he was fool enough to steal from Mr. Ting, the provincial scholar! As if anybody could get away with that!"

“tā zǒng réngjiù shì tōu. Zhè yī huí, shì zìjǐ fāhūn, jìng tōu dào Dīng jǔrén jiā lǐ qù le. Tā jiā de dōngxi, tōu de de me?”

「他總仍舊是偷。這一回，是自己發昏，竟偷到丁舉人家裡去了。他家的東西，偷得的麼？」

「他总仍旧是偷。这一回，是自己发昏，竟偷到丁举人家里去了。他家的东西，偷得的么？」


編

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *pen, *peːn, *peːnʔ): semantic 糸 (“thread”) + phonetic 扁 (OC *pʰen, *benʔ, *peːnʔ, *beːnʔ) – to knit together a book (with thread).
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *p(r)an/t ~ b(r)an/t (“to braid; to plait; to interweave”).


章

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (章):
* → Japanese: 章(しょう) (shō)
* → Korean: 장(章) (jang)
* → Vietnamese: chương (章)

desc

→ English: Chang, Zhang, Cheung, Chiang, Cheang, Cheong

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): A chisel 辛 piercing a piece of untreated jade in the middle of the character (now 日). Originally meaning "to treat jade", likely the original character of 璋 or 彰.
STEDT compares the word to Proto-Kuki-Chin *klaaŋ-I, *klaan-II (“to shine; light; bright”); see 陽 (OC *laŋ, “sunshine”) for more.

章子怡


激

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kleːwɢs, *kleːwɢ): semantic 氵 (“water”) + phonetic 敫 (OC *kleːwɢs, *ɢlewɢ, *kleːwɢ) – (of water) to swash.


烈

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *red): phonetic 列 (OC *red) + semantic 灬 (“fire”).


六

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (六):
* → Japanese: 六(ろく) (roku)
* → Korean: 육/륙(六) (yuk/ryuk)
* → Vietnamese: lục (六)

desctree

→ Proto-Tai: *krokᴰ (“six”)
Northern Tai
Bouyei: rogt
Tai Do: hốc
Zhuang: roek, loeg
Central Tai
Tày: hốc
Nùng: róc
Nong Zhuang: choak
Proto-Southwestern Tai: *xrokᴰ¹ˢ
Thai: หก (hòk)
Northern Thai: ᩉᩫ᩠ᨠ
Lao: ຫົກ (hok)
Lü: ᦷᦠᧅ (ḣok)
Tai Dam: ꪶꪬꪀ
Shan: ႁူၵ်း (húuk)
Tai Nüa: ᥞᥨᥐᥱ (hǒk)
Aiton: ꩭုက် (huk)
Phake: ꩭုက် (huk)
Ahom: 𑜍𑜤𑜀𑜫 (ruk)

Pictogram (象形) – perhaps a shed. Originally using the similar-sounding word 廬 (OC *ra, “shed, cabin”) to represent the concept “six” (Liu Xinglong). Alternatively, it may be an ancient counting symbol.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *d-k-ruk (“six”).


五

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (五):
* → Japanese: 五(ご) (go)
* → Korean: 오(五) (o)
* → Vietnamese: ngũ (五)

desctree

→ Proto-Tai: *haːꟲ (“five”)
Northern Tai
Bouyei: hac
Saek: ฮ̂า
Tai Do: ha
Zhuang: haj
Central Tai
Nùng: hà
Tày: hả
Southwestern Tai
Ahom: 𑜑𑜡 (hā)
Lao: ຫ້າ (hā)
Lü: ᦠᦱᧉ (ḣaa²)
Northern Thai: ᩉ᩶ᩣ
Shan: ႁႃႈ (hāa)
Tai Dam: ꪬ꫁ꪱ
Tai Nüa: ᥞᥣᥲ (hàa)
Thai: ห้า (hâa)

Originally written 𠄡, consisting of 㐅 with a bar on the top and bottom. One hypothesis explains that this may have meant five because when counting on a single hand, one first counts to five and then crosses back the other way to ten.
In 韋, the upper component (𫝀) is the stylization of a footprint, hence it is similar but unrelated to 五.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *l/b-ŋa (“five”).

a surname. Wu (mainland China, Taiwan), Ng (Hong Kong)


三

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (三):
* → Japanese: 三(さん) (san)
* → Korean: 삼(三) (sam)
* → Vietnamese: tam (三)

→ Proto-Tai: *saːmᴬ (“three”)

Lao: ສາມ (sām)

Thai: สาม (sǎam)

Zhuang: sam

Characters in the same phonetic series (三) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Ideogram (指事) - three parallel strokes. Compare with 一, one stroke meaning “one”, 二, two strokes meaning “two”, and 亖, four strokes meaning “four”.
Triplication of 一 (“one”).
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *g-sum.
Pronunciation in Early Middle Chinese should be *srim, but actually is *sam, with a non-retroflex initial consonant. This irregular development should be due by analogy with the initial of number four in EMC, *sijH.

Han etyl

叄/叁/參/参
𠫰/𠬅/𠬄
弎
𢦘

(Mainland China, slang, neologism)
a surname


萬

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (萬):
* → Japanese: 万(まん) (man, “ten thousand”); 万(ばん) (ban)
* → Korean: 만(萬) (man, “ten thousand”)
* → Vietnamese: vạn (萬, “ten thousand”)

desc

→ Bouyei: faanh (“ten thousand”), Wanq (surname)

→ Proto-Hmong: *wi̯aŋꟲ (“ten thousand”)

→ Kavalan: ban (“ten thousand”)

→ Khmer: ម៉ឺន (məɨn), ហ្មឺន (məɨn, “ten thousand; official rank”)

→ Lao: ໝື່ນ (mư̄n), ຫມື່ນ (mư̄n, “ten thousand; official rank”)

→ Middle Korean: 즈믄 (cumun, “thousand”)

→ Middle Mongol: ᠲᠦᠮᠡᠨ (tümen, “ten thousand”)

→ English: tumen (“an army unit of 10,000 soldiers, among the ancient Mongols”)

Khalkha Mongolian: ᠲᠦᠮᠡ (tüme) / түм (tüm)

→ Persian: تومان (tumân)

→ English: toman (“former currency of Iran”)

→ Russian: Тюмень (Tjumenʹ, “Tyumen”)

→ English: Tyumen (“city in Russia”)

→ Shan: မိုၼ်ႇ (mùen, “ten thousand”)

→ Thai: หมื่น (mʉ̀ʉn, “ten thousand; official rank”)

→ Proto-Tocharian:

Tocharian A: tmāṃ (“ten thousand”)

Tocharian B: t₍ᵤ₎māne (“ten thousand, a myriad”)

→ Proto-Tungusic:

Manchu: ᡨᡠᠮᡝᠨ (tumen, “ten thousand”)

zh-l

→ Chinese: 圖們／图们 (Túmén, “Tumen, city in China”), 圖們江／图们江 (Túmén Jiāng, “Tumen River, boundary river between China, North Korea and Russia”)

→ English: Tumen (“city in China”)

→ Korean: 도문 (圖們, Domun, “Tumen”)

desc

→ Middle Korean: 투먼〮가ᇰ (Thwùmén-kàng, “Tumen River”)

→ Korean: 두만강 (豆滿江, Duman'gang, “Tumen River”)

→ Proto-Turkic: *tümen (“ten thousand; an infinitely large number”)

Turkish: tümen (“ten thousand”)

→ Vietnamese: muôn (𨷈, “ten thousand; all, many”), man (“ten thousand”)

→ Zhuang: fanh (“ten thousand”)

Pictogram (象形) – scorpion. This character's original meaning has been lost, and the derivative 蠆 (OC *m̥ʰraːds) refers to the original word.
; “scorpion”
; “religious dance; sorcery”
; “myriad; ten thousand”

万
㸘
𤍚
𢁭
𥝄
𥝅
𬺳

Comrade Wan Li, whose original name was Wan Mingli, was born to a poor family in Dongping County, Shandong Province in December 1916.

“万里同志生平”, in People's Daily (in Chinese), 2015 July 23, page 4

Wàn Lǐ tóngzhì, yuánmíng Wàn Mínglǐ, 1916 nián 12 yuè chūshēng yú Shāndōng xǐng Dōngpíng xiàn yī ge pínmín jiātíng.

萬里同志，原名萬明禮，1916年12月出生於山東省東平縣一個貧民家庭。

万里同志，原名万明礼，1916年12月出生于山东省东平县一个贫民家庭。


刀

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (刀):
* → Japanese: 刀(とう) (tō)
* → Korean: 도(刀) (do)
* → Vietnamese: đao (刀)

→ Khmer: ដាវ (daaw)

→ Vietnamese: dao

→ White Hmong: tob

→ English: dao

Pictogram (象形) – a knife. The original form was 𠚣, which can be found in a variant of 利, 𥝢 (in turn used on the top of the character 黎).
Unclear. Here are several proposals:
* Schuessler (2007) considers this to be an area word or a word widely borrowed from Chinese into other languages; compare Proto-Karen *ʔdɔ (“knife”), Jingpho [script needed] (n³¹-do³¹, “short knife”), Proto-Vietic *-taːw (“knife”), Bulo Stieng taaw;
* Stephen Baron posits Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-ta-w, with a sparsely attested suffix *-w retained in Sinitic yet lost in Tibeto-Burman, yielding Proto-Tibeto-Burman *s-ta (“knife; axe; sword”); compare Tibetan སྟ་རེ (sta re, “axe; hatchet”), Burmese ဓား (dha:, “knife; sword”), Proto-Loloish *ta² (“knife”) (STEDT);
* Starostin derives it from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *tā̆w ~ *dā̆w, comparing it to Tibetan སྟེའུ (ste'u, “carpenter's axe, adze”) and Jingpho nhtu (“sword”).

cog

刀世勛

刀世勋

a surname (only common among Tai people)


㐸

For pronunciation and definitions of 㐸 – see 欠 (“to lack; to be deficient; to owe; etc.”).
(This character is a variant form of 欠).


神

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (神):
* → Japanese: 神(しん) (shin)
* → Korean: 신(神) (sin)
* → Vietnamese: thần (神)

→ Chadong: sən²

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *hlin): semantic 示 (“god; deity”) + phonetic 申 (OC *hlin, “lightning”).
Originally 申 in the oracle bone script and in some bronze inscriptions. The ancients feared the unpredictable lightning and considered it to be divine or of divine origin. 示 was added for specialization.
Possibly Sino-Tibetan; compare Chepang ग्लीङ्ह (gliŋh, “spirit, mind, soul”) (Schuessler, 2007).


㑯

Han char

㑯 (Kangxi radical 9, 人+9, 11 strokes, cangjie input 人一月金 (OMBC), composition ⿰亻頁)


年

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (年):
* → Japanese: 年(ねん) (nen)
* → Korean: 년(年) (nyeon)
* → Vietnamese: niên (年)

Wutunhua: nian

→ Zhuang: nienz

In the oracle bone script and early bronze inscriptions, it was originally 秂, an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) and phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *niːŋ): semantic 禾 (“wheat; grain”) + phonetic 人 (OC *njin, “person”) – a person carrying wheat on his back – harvest. In bronze inscriptions after the Western Zhou period, a stroke was often added to 人 to give 千 (OC *sn̥ʰiːn), which still acted as a phonetic component, thus getting (秊).
The current form is inherited from the clerical script, where libian (隸變) has occurred. See also 重, in which a person is carrying a bag.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-ni(ː)ŋ ~ s-nik (“year”).

inh

秂
秊
䄹
𰨝
𠡦
𠦅
𠦚
䄭
𦼌
𠬋
𠫺

年羹堯

年羹尧


亓

For pronunciation and definitions of 亓 – see 其 (“his; her; its; their; he; she; it; they; one; etc.”).
(This character is a variant form of 其).
Clipping of 亓官 (Qíguān), which is a corrupted form of 笄官 (“an ancient official position”)


丌

For pronunciation and definitions of 丌 – see 其 (“his; her; its; their; he; she; it; they; one; etc.”).
(This character is an ancient form of 其).

Tang Qishi, deputy envoy of the left army.

唐丌實，左軍副使。

唐丌实，左军副使。


丐

Characters in the same phonetic series (丐) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Corruption of 匄. Its original meaning is unknown; perhaps it was "to damage".


亍

Simplified from 行 – the right side of the character.


乍

Pictogram (象形) – an axe chopping wood. Original form of 柞.


亙

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 二 + 月 (“moon”).
Possibly also the original form of 恆.


仉

Corruption of 𤓯, an ancient form of 掌. In its current form, the left part became 亻, while the right became 几.

仉氏


丞

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 卩 (“kneeling person”) + 廾 (“both hands”) + 凵 (“hole”) – to rescue a person from a hole. Compare 承.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-tjaŋ (“upper part; rise; raise”).


丕

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *pʰrɯ): phonetic 不 (OC *pɯ, *pɯʔ, *pɯ') + semantic 一


互

Ideogram (指事): 牙 and a distinguishing mark. Early texts often used 互 and 牙 interchangeably.

共榮互利

to benefit mutually and prosper together


亶

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *taːnʔ): semantic 㐭 + phonetic 旦 (OC *taːns), originally a ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 㐭 (“granary”) + 虫 (“insect”) (Li Xueqin, 2012).


亦

Ideogram (指事) – a human figure (compare 大) with water falling from them (roughly from arm pits). Original form of 腋 (OC *laːɡ, “armpit”) or 液 (OC *laːɡ, “liquid”).
Cognate with Mizo ve (“also; too”), Mizo vêk (“again; over again”) (Schuessler, 2007).


丙

→ Zhuang: bingj

Various theories:
* Pictogram (象形) – shoulders (Shuowen).
* Pictogram (象形) – the tail of a fish (Erya). See also 再.
* Pictogram (象形) - part of a chariot, as seen in the original form of 更.
* Pictogram (象形) – pedestal.
* Pictogram (象形) – small table.
* Original form of 柄 (OC *praŋʔ, *praŋs).
Whatever its original sense may be, it has been lost and replaced by its early use as a heavenly stem. See also the original version of 更 (< 㪅).
Baxter and Sagart (2014) note the phonological relationship between 丙 (OC *praŋʔ) and 兩 (OC *p.raŋʔ, “a pair”); how these two are graphically related is noted in Baxter (1992). Smith (2011) suggests that these two words are not only phonologically similar but also etymologically related, with 丙, meaning "couplet" or "bivalve", referring to an asterism.


伙

Phono-semantic compound (形聲) and ideogrammic compound (會意): semantic 人 (“person”) + phonetic 火/ semantic 火.


伶

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *reːŋ): semantic 人 (“man; person”) + phonetic 令 (OC *ren, *reŋ, *reŋs, *reːŋ, *reːŋs)


佉

Han char

佉 (Kangxi radical 9, 人+5, 7 strokes, cangjie input 人土戈 (OGI), four-corner 2423₁, composition ⿰亻去)


亥

Pictogram (象形) – depiction uncertain. Some propose it depicts a plant's roots underground, possibly as the original form of 荄 (OC *kɯː, *krɯː). Others propose it is an animal, similar in origin to 豕.
Smith (2011) groups 亥 (OC *ɡɯːʔ) in a word-family meaning "root, germ, generative core" along with 荄 (OC *kɯ:, “grassroot”) > 根 (OC *kɯːn, “root”), 核 (OC *ɡrɯːɡ, “germ, kernel”), 骸 (OC *ɡrɯː, “(human) bones”), and 孩 (OC *ɡɯː, “child”). He suggests the derivation 荄根 "germ, sprout, root (n.)" → 孩 "to sprout" → 亥 "sprouting stage", i.e. "the moon’s first appearance", recalling 月芽 lit. "moon sprout" > "crescent moon".
See 核 (hé) for further etymology.
Later 亥 (hài) and 豕 (shǐ, “pig”) graphically converged.
As for 亥 (OC *ɡɯːʔ)'s phonological association with the pig. Compare the following:
* Khmer កុរ (kol, “year of the pig”), from Angkorian Old Khmer kur.
* Proto-Vietic *guːrʔ (“pig; pork”) or *kuːrʔ (“pig; pork”):
** Vietnamese cúi (“(archaic) pig”)
** Muong củi (kuːj³, “pig”)
** Chut cûl (kûːl, “pig”)
* Thai กุน (gun, “year of the pig”), a loan from Old Khmer.
Ferlus (2013) notes 亥 (OC *ɡɯːʔ) is a possible match to the Austroasiatic root, but there should be a final sonorant in Old Chinese.

och-l

亥 (OC *ɡɯːʔ)

亥 (OC *ɡɯːʔ)

亥 (OC *ɡɯːʔ)


佟

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *duːŋ): semantic 人 (“man”) + phonetic 冬 (OC *tuːŋ).


也

Pictogram (象形) — A child (子) with their mouth (口) open crying. The original form of 嗁 (OC *l'eː, “to cry”) (Ji Xusheng, 2004). The child's arms were removed during bronze inscriptions and the two components fused together in the modern form.
Other various possible explanations include:
* The traditional glyph origin given in Shuowen explains the character to be a pictogram (象形) of female genitalia.
* It was once interchangeable with 它 and may have originated as a simplification. Hence, it could be the pictogram of a snake.
* It may have been created to represent the modal particle (語氣詞／语气词 (yǔqìcí)). In some bronze inscriptions, it appears to be a mouth (口) with a curved line descending from it to represent air coming out of the mouth.
* It is possibly a pictogram (象形) of an ancient funnel or wash basin. It may be an early form of 匜.
* It may have signified a big-headed scorpion with its legs flattened, signifying as something very "flat" or "stretched out".
; classical sentence-ending copulative particle, topic particle
Unclear. Possibly Sino-Tibetan, connectable to Tibetan ལ (la), which is often used as a marker (for oblique locative, dative, possessor in constructions with a copula verb, etc.) but also a topicalizer like ནི (ni, “as for”) (Schuessler, 2007).
On the other hand, Pulleyblank (1995) notes the similarity with anteclassical 唯 (OC *ɢʷi) as a copula and a topicalizer.
; also, too, as well

zh-l

語氣詞／语气词 (yǔqìcí)

𠃟
𦫴
𦬀
𠔄
𠃒
啊
叶
亦


乘

Pictogram (象形) – a person 大 climbing a tree 木, with the feet visible. Etymology clearer in alternative form 椉. In this form, simplified to 禾 (“tree and top”) + 北 (“feet”).


佘

→ English: She, Sheh, Seah

Derived from 余 (yú) and 舍 (shè). The character was differentiated from these two characters around the time of the Han dynasty, possibly a Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɦlja): semantic 人 (“person”) + phonetic 示 (OC *ɡle, *ɢljils).
From 余. (Kangxi Dictionary).

Han compound

She Saihua (a legendary heroine from ancient China's Northern Song Dynasty)

佘賽花

佘赛花

佘詩曼

佘诗曼


云

originated from Zhou dynasty feudal state of 䢵


久

/t͡ɕi̯oʊ̯²¹⁴/

/t͡ɕi̯əu̯⁴¹/

/t͡ɕi̯oʊ̯²¹⁴/

/t͡ɕi̯əu̯⁴¹/

Used interchangeably with 氒 in oracle bone script. Likely a pictogram (象形) of an arrow tip.
Possibly Sino-Tibetan. Compare Bantawa [script needed] (kʰokpa, “old man”) (Sagart, 2017d), which STEDT derives from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *kwak (“old”).
舊 (OC *N-kʷəʔ-s) may be a derivative (Baxter and Sagart, 2014). See there for more.

cog

GT - General Taiwanese (no particular region identified)


佽

Han char

佽 (Kangxi radical 9, 人+6, 8 strokes, cangjie input 人戈一人 (OIMO) or 人一一人 (OMMO), four-corner 7728₂, composition ⿰亻次)

人戈一人 (cangjie-input)
人一一人 (cangjie-input)
⿰亻次 (composition)


伐

Simplified Chinese is mainly used in Mainland China

Traditional Chinese is mainly used in Hong Kong


仲

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *duŋs): semantic 亻 (“person”) + phonetic 中 (OC *tuŋ, *tuŋs, “middle”).
Derived from 中 (OC *tuŋ, *tuŋs, “middle”).


丘

/t͡ɕʰi̯oʊ̯⁵⁵/

/t͡ɕʰi̯oʊ̯⁵⁵/

Characters in the same phonetic series (丘) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Ideogram (指事) – hill. Earlier form closer to 丠, as in 虛 (OC *kʰa, *qʰa). Compare 山. Unrelated to 兵 and 斤.
Wang (1982) relates this word to 墟 (xū) "ruin-mound". However, Schuessler (2007) disagrees.
Schuessler considers two homophones 丘, "hill, mound" and 丘 "village, district" to be the same word as settlements were often built on elevated grounds (for a parallel see 京 (jīng)) and traces this word's etymology to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *r/g-wa (“village”); within Sinitic, 丘 (OC *kʰʷɯ) is cognate with 里 (OC *rɯʔ) "village" and 街 (OC *kreː, *kreː) "road crossing, street"; outsides Sinitic, cognate with Mizo khua (“village”), Lai khûa (“village, cosmos”), and Burmese ရွာ (rwa, “village”) (STEDT).

Han etyl

丠
㐀
𡊣
㘳
坵
𠀈
𠀉
𠀌

丘成桐


仍

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (仍):
* → Vietnamese: nhưng (仍)

→ Vietnamese: những

→ Thai: ยัง (yang)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *njɯŋ): semantic 亻 + phonetic 乃 (OC *nɯːʔ).
; “to be done repeatedly; as before”


仕

See 士 "servant, retainer, officer, scholar, gentleman"


侴

/ʈ͡ʂʰoʊ̯²¹⁴/

/ʈ͡ʂʰoʊ̯²¹⁴/


于

亐
亏
𠂌/ancient
丂
亐
亏
亐
亏
亐
亏

Yu Jin (Chinese military general serving under the warlord Cao Cao in the late Eastern Han dynasty)

于禁


仇

/t͡ɕʰi̯oʊ̯³⁵/

/t͡ɕʰi̯oʊ̯³⁵/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡu): semantic 亻 (“person”) + phonetic 九 (OC *kuʔ) – spouse.


伸

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *hlin): semantic 亻 (“man”) + phonetic 申 (OC *hlin).
STEDT derives the word from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *tsjan ~ *dzjan (“to stretch out”), and compares Burmese ဆင်း (hcang:, “idem”), though the Old Chinese reconstructions make this somewhat problematic.


佑

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɢʷɯs): semantic 亻 + phonetic 右 (OC *ɢʷɯʔ, *ɢʷɯs).
Exoactive derivation of 右 (OC *ɢʷɯʔ, *ɢʷɯs, “right”).
“Right” and “left” are metaphors for “to assist” via the following semantic development: “left or right” > “to be on the left or right of a person” > “to assist, to help, to protect”.
Compare the derivation of 佐 (OC *ʔsaːls, “to assist; to help”) from 左 (OC *ʔsaːlʔ, *ʔsaːls, “left”).


伍

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (伍):
* → Japanese: 伍(ご) (go)
* → Korean: 오(伍) (o)

(Hokkien dialect) Tagalog: Go

(Mandarin) Tagalog: Wu

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ŋaːʔ): semantic 亻 + phonetic 五 (OC *ŋaːʔ). Also ideogrammic compound (會意／会意).

Han compound

Wu Lien-teh (Malayan Chinese physician and epidemiologist)

伍連德

伍连德

伍家崗區

伍家岗区


仰

俯

antonym(s) of “to raise the head to look”

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ŋaŋʔ, *ŋaŋs): semantic 人 (“person”) + phonetic 卬 (OC *ŋaːŋ, *ŋaŋʔ).


企

人 (“person”) + 止 (“foot”) – a person standing on tiptoes.


酒

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (酒):
* → Japanese: 酒(しゅ) (shu)
* → Korean: 주(酒) (ju)
* → Vietnamese: tửu (酒)

→ Indonesian: ciu

/t͡ɕi̯oʊ̯²¹⁴/

/t͡si̯əu̯⁴¹/

/t͡ɕi̯əu̯⁴¹/

/t͡ɕi̯oʊ̯²¹⁴/

/t͡si̯əu̯⁴¹/

/t͡ɕi̯əu̯⁴¹/

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 水 (“water”) + 酉 (“an alcoholic drink vessel”) - the liquid associated with an alcoholic drink vessel, hence wine and alcohol. See also 酋.
Also a phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ʔsluʔ): semantic 水 (“water, liquid”) + phonetic 酉 (OC *luʔ).
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *jəw (“liquor”) (STEDT). Cognate with 酉 (OC *luʔ, “wine; wine vessel”).

Han compound

GT - General Taiwanese (no specific region identified)


乞

Variant of 气 (OC *kʰɯds), distinguished to indicate a phonetically borrowed meaning “to beg”.
The top component of the character is unrelated to 旅, 伤, 复, 每 as well as 人.


但

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *daːn, *daːnʔ, *daːns): semantic 亻 (“person”) + phonetic 旦 (OC *taːns).
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *(d/t)a(n/j) (“single; one; whole; only”). Cognate with 單 (OC *taːn, “single”).


亮

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) and phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *raŋs): semantic 人 (“person”) + phonetic 京 (OC *kraŋ, “building; tower”). In the variant 𠅙, the body of the tower is more recognizable.
Part of an Austroasiatic word family; compare Khmer [script needed] (-rāṃṅa, “to be light; to be bright”) (Schuessler, 2007), from Proto-Mon-Khmer *raaŋʔ (“light; to shine”); as well as:
:* ស្រាំង (srang, “to be pale; to be colourless”) with 爽 (OC *sraŋʔ),
:* [script needed] (brāṅa, “to grow light (after dark)”) with 炳 (OC *praŋʔ).
:* បំព្រាង (bɑmpriəng, “to shed a pale light”) with 明 (OC *mraŋ).
Alternatively, STEDT compares it to Proto-Kuki-Chin *klaaŋ-I, *klaan-II (“to shine; light; bright”).


丑

/ʈ͡ʂʰoʊ̯²¹⁴/

/ʈ͡ʂʰoʊ̯²¹⁴/

Pictogram (象形) – a hand or an animal claw. Phonetically borrowed to represent an earthly branch.
Smith (2010) proposes that 丑 graphically depicts the claw-like "final, narrow phase of the moon"; he glosses it as "thing that pinches > pincer" and groups it into a word-family which is based on 扭 (OC *nuʔ, *tnuʔ, “twist, pinch”) and also includes
* 手 (OC *hnjɯwʔ, “hand”);
* 杻 (OC *nuʔ, *n̥ʰuʔ) ~ 杽 (OC *n̥ʰɯwʔ, “manacle”), which equally uses 丑 (OC *n̥ʰuʔ) or 手 (OC *hnjɯwʔ) as phonophoric, as noted by Unger (1995) and Sagart (1999);
* 紐 (OC *nuʔ) ~ 鈕 (OC *nuʔ, “grip handle”), with which Shuowen glosses 丑 (OC *n̥ʰuʔ);
* 狃 (OC *nuʔ, *nus, “animal tracks”), suggested to mean "animals' fingers" by Sagart (1999).
Its association with the ox is from Austroasiatic (Mei, 1980; Norman, 1985; Ferlus, 2013); compare Proto-Vietic *c-luː (“water buffalo”), Proto-Mon-Khmer *krpiʔ ~ *krpiiw ~ *krpuʔ ~ *(kr)puh (“buffalo”), Proto-Austroasiatic *k.r.pu.y (“buffalo”).


文

Characters in the same phonetic series (文) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Ideogram (指事): a man with a painted or tattooed chest – original form of 紋. The tattoo was usually a cross, a V shape or a stylized heart. In current form, tattoo has vanished, so simply an outline of a man (head, outstretched arms, legs, chest) similar to 立. Compare 大, which has no chest.
Unrelated to the Kangxi radicals 齐 and 攵.
Possibly a derivation, with -n nominal suffix, of 煤 (*mɯː) "soot (obs.), ink (obs.), coal" (Schuessler, 2007).
Semantic shift: "pattern, tattoo (made of soot)", "written glyph (made of ink)" > "literature" > "refined, cultured" (Schuessler, 2007).

Han etyl

Wen Tianxiang (Chinese politician and poet in the last years of the Southern Song Dynasty)

文天祥


丹

Pictogram (象形) of a well or mine with cinnabar inside. It can also indicate "red cinnabar" used in dyeing clothes (e.g., 彤). The original version is 𠂁. See also the bottom part of 青 (< 𤯞).
Schuessler (2007) suggests a Kam-Tai origin, comparing it to Proto-Kam-Sui *h-lanꟲ (“red”). 矸, as in 丹矸, may be a variant; see there for more.
Alternatively, it may be from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *t(j)a-n ~ *tsa-n (“red”), whence Burmese တာ (ta, “very red”) (Matisoff, 2003; Hill, 2014); however, STEDT currently does not compare this to 丹.
Possibly related to 旃 (OC *tjan, “a plain red flag”), as well as 袒 (OC *daːnʔ, “to bare; to strip oneself naked to the waist”), as skin color is often associated with "red". See these entries for more.

och-l

𠂁
𠁿
𠕑
𢒈
㣋
㐤
𮯱


俎

Pictogram (象形) – sacrificial altar for meat. The altar's legs are on the left and the vessel is on the right.


且

/t͡ɕʰi̯ɛ²¹⁴/

/t͡ɕʰi̯ɛ²¹⁴/

Pictogram (象形). Multiple interpretations:
* A stone altar – original form of 祖 (OC *ʔsaːʔ).
* A sacrificial vessel used for chopping and holding meat, as viewed from above (Wang, 1923) – original form of 俎 (OC *ʔsraʔ).
* An erect penis, the symbol of the male ancestor (Guo, 1931) – original form of 祖 (OC *ʔsaːʔ).
In the oracle bones and bronze inscriptions, this character was commonly used as 祖 (OC *ʔsaːʔ); usage as 俎 (OC *ʔsraʔ) is not attested until the Warring States period in the bamboo script. See also the original version of 查.
; “and; also; almost; be going to”


倗

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *pʰɯːŋʔ, *bɯːŋ, *bɯːŋs): semantic 人 (“person”) + phonetic 朋 (OC *bɯːŋ).

liushu

OC *pʰɯːŋʔ, *bɯːŋ, *bɯːŋs


佼

/t͡ɕi̯ɑʊ̯²¹⁴/

/t͡ɕi̯ɑʊ̯²¹⁴/


伏

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 人 (“person”) + 犬 (“dog”) – meaning “prostrate”.
* A dog at the side of a person.
* A person adopting the position of a dog.


佚

→ Proto-Turkic: *yit- (“to be lost”)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *liɡ): semantic 人 (“man; person”) + phonetic 失 (OC *hliɡ)


乜

a surname, listed 388th in the Baijiaxing


偰

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *sqʰeːd): semantic 亻 + phonetic 契 (OC *kʰeːds, *kʰeːd, *kʰeːd, *kʰɯd).


以

Pictogram (象形) – a person (人) carrying something. It is often simplified to 㠯 in pre-Qin ancient scripts. Today, the person is partly visibile on the right (see also the stylization in 从). See also 重, in which a person is carrying a bag.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *la-k (“to take; to fetch”) (Schuessler, 2007; STEDT). Cognate with 式 (OC *hljɯɡ, “model; form; rule”), 試 (OC *hljɯɡs, “to test; to try”).


侵

According to Shuowen, an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 人 (“person”) + 帚 (“broom”) + 又 (“hand”) – a person with a broom in hand.
Two Sino-Tibetan etymologies are possible:
* Cognate with Tibetan སྟིམ་པ (stim pa, “to enter; to penetrate”), Tibetan ཐིམ་པ (thim pa, “to dissolve; to disappear; absorbed”), though the two terms agree just as well with 浸 (OC *ʔsims, *sʰim) (Schuessler, 2007), or
* From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *syim (“sweep”) (STEDT); cognate with Anong śim (“to sweep”), Lhao Vo śam (“to sweep”), Burmese သိမ်း (sim:, “to gather in; to take possession of”). Note the graph 侵 shows a broom (帚) which may carry a semantic function (Schuessler, 2007).


偕

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kriːl): semantic 人 (“man”) + phonetic 皆 (OC *kriːl)


付

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 亻 (“person”) + 又 (“hand”) or ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 亻 (“person”) + 寸 (“hand”) – to deliver, to give to someone.


井

Pictogram (象形) – a square well, with supports on four sides.
Some forms have a stone inside the well, as in 丼.


件

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 人 (“man”) + 牛 (“cow”).


休

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 人 (“man”) + 木 (“tree”) – a man leaning against a tree, resting.


俸

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *poːŋʔ, *boŋs): semantic 亻 (“person”) + phonetic 奉 (OC *boŋʔ).
Exopassive of 奉 (OC *boŋʔ, “to receive”), literally “that which is received” (Schuessler, 2007).


伯

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (伯):
* → Japanese: 伯(はく) (haku, “count”)
* → Korean: 백(伯) (baek, “count”)
* → Vietnamese: bá (伯, “count”)

→? Proto-Turkic: *bēg (see there for further descendants)

→ Manchu: ᠪᡝ (be)

desc

→ Thai: แปะ (bpɛ̀), แป๊ะ (bpɛ́, “old Chinese man”) (via Teochew)

→ Vietnamese: bác (“uncle, aunt”)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *praːɡ): semantic 人 (“person”) + phonetic 白 (OC *braːɡ).
Unclear. Possibly an areal word (Schuessler, 2007). Compare Mru [script needed] (rak, “eldest brother”) and Kukish prak (“eldest brother”) (Löffler, 1966), as well as Lahu phâ (“god; lord”) < Thai พระ (prá) < Old Khmer bra or Angkorian Old Khmer braḥ, braḥh, brah (“distinguished; divine; excellent; holy; sacred; superior; etc.”) (see Khmer ព្រះ (preăh) for more).
Possibly related to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *bʷaŋ ~ *pʷaŋ (“(paternal) uncle; elder brother”), in turn possibly related to 兄 (OC *hmraŋ, “elder brother”) (Benedict, 1972).
Alternatively, from 白 (OC *braːɡ, “white”); compare 皤 (OC *paːl, *baːl, “white”), which underwent parallel semantic shift to "white-haired", though this is possibly folk etymology (Schuessler, 2007).
Pronunciation 2 is the exoactive/transitive of pronunciation 1 (ibid.).

沙烏地阿拉伯

Shāwūdì Ālābó

沙乌地阿拉伯

Shāwūdì Ālābó


白

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (白):
* → Japanese: 白(はく) (haku)
* → Korean: 백(白) (baek)
* → Jeju: 벡 (bek)
* → Vietnamese: bạch (白)

→ Proto-Southwestern Tai: *pʰɯəkᴰ¹ᴸ

Lao: ເຜືອກ (phư̄ak)

Thai: เผือก (pʉ̀ʉak)

→ Proto-Vietic: *baːk

Vietnamese: bạc

desc

→ Vietnamese: bệch (“chalky; sickly white”)

Characters in the same phonetic series (白) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Unclear; probably a pictogram (象形).
Guo (1954) suggests that it represents a thumb and is original form of 拇 (*mɯʔ) or, more probably, 擘 (*preːɡ).
Alternatively, Unger (apud Schuessler, 2007) suggests that it represents an acorn, noting its use in 樂／乐 (“oak”) (= 櫟／栎) and 皂 (zào, “acorn”). In this interpretation, the meaning of “white” is derived from the color of an acorn's inside. Unrelated to the top component of 原.
STEDT derives it from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *bawk (“white”), whence also Proto-Bodo-Garo *bok (“white”), Limbu ᤑ (phô, “white”); also compare Proto-Mon-Khmer *kɓɔɔk (“white, grey”).
However, Schuessler (2007) finds it difficult to reconcile these forms with Middle Chinese due to the lack of medial r. Instead, he proposes a derivation from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *bar (“white”) with -k extension, thus cognate with 皤 (OC *baːl, “white”) (Wang, 1982), Mizo vâr (“(to be) white”), Proto-Karen *ʔ(b)wa (“white”).

Han etyl

白崇禧


何

→ English: He, Ho

→ Tagalog: Ho (via Hokkien)

In the oracle bone script, a pictogram (象形): a man carrying something on their shoulder – the original form of 荷 (OC *ɡaːlʔ, “to carry”).
The object being carried may have been 戈 (gē), in which case the character is also an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) and phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡaːl, *ɡaːlʔ): semantic 人 (“person”) + phonetic 戈 (OC *koːl, “dagger-axe”).
In the bronze inscriptions, some forms of the character were phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡaːl, *ɡaːlʔ): semantic 人 (“person”) + phonetic 可 (OC *kʰaːlʔ), from which the modern form derives.
Cognate with the following interrogative pronouns:
* 胡 (OC *ɡaː, “what; why”)
* 奚 (OC *ɡeː, “what; why; where”)
* 曷 (OC *ɡaːd, “why”)
* 盍 (OC *ɡaːb, “why not”): from the fusion of 何不 (OC *ɡaːl pɯ, “why not”)
In Sino-Tibetan, cognate with Tibetan ག་ན (ga na, “where; how”), Tibetan ག་རུ (ga ru, “to where”) (Schuessler, 2007).
STEDT, on the other hand, compares 何 (OC *ɡaːlʔ) to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ka (“which; like; deictic; interrogative”), to which 幾 (OC *kɯlʔ, “how many”) and 豈 (OC *ŋ̊ʰɯlʔ, “how”) are also compared.

inh

何應欽／何应钦 ― Hé Yìngqīn ― He Yingqin (Kuomintang general)

何鴻燊／何鸿燊 [Cantonese] ― ho⁴ hung⁴ san¹ [Jyutping] ― Stanley Ho (Hong Kong billionaire)


伴

Sino-Xenic (伴):
* → Vietnamese: bạn (伴)

Tai Languages

Proto-Southwestern Tai

desc

Thai: เพื่อน (pʉ̂ʉan, “companion, friend”)

→ Khmer: ភឿន (phɨən, “companion, friend”)

→ Northern Khmer: พฺืน (“companion, friend”)

Lao: ເພື່ອນ (phư̄an, “companion, friend”), ເພິ່ນ (phœn, “he, she, it, him, her”)

Isan: เพื่อน (“companion, friend”), เพิ่น (“he, she, it, him, her”)

Northern Thai: ᨻᩮᩬᩥ᩵ᩁ (“companion, friend”), ᨻᩮᩥ᩠᩵ᨶ (“he, she”)

Shan: ပိူၼ်ႈ (pōen)

Lü: ᦵᦗᦲᧃᧈ (poen¹, “he, she, friend”)

Tai Nüa: ᥙᥫᥢ (poen)

/pʰuːn¹³⁻³⁵/

/pʰuːn¹³⁻³⁵/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *baːnʔ, *baːns): semantic 亻 + phonetic 半 (OC *paːns).


佳

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kreː): semantic 人 (“man; person”) + phonetic 圭 (OC *kʷeː).


傒

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡeː): semantic 亻 (“person”) + phonetic 奚 (OC *ɡeː).


僖

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *qʰlɯ): semantic 人 (“person”) + phonetic 喜 (OC *qʰlɯʔ).


倫

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *run): semantic 人 + phonetic 侖 (OC *run).


位

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) and phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɢʷrɯbs): semantic 亻 (“man”) + phonetic 立 (OC *rɯb, “stand”). Often simply written as 立 in idiomatic expressions such as 即位 (jíwèi) in Western Zhou inscriptions.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *g-r(j)ap (“to stand”). Derived from 立 (OC *rɯb). Mei (2012) lists it among the possible nasal-prefixed verb forms (Old Chinese *N-k- > Middle Chinese *ɦ-, possibly forming a stative). Suffixed with a nominalizing *-s, it takes the sense "the place/rank/status one holds".


任

Characters in the same phonetic series (壬) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *njɯm, *njɯms): semantic 亻 (“person”) + phonetic 壬 (OC *l̥ʰeːŋʔ, *njɯm) – to carry on a shoulder pole.
Note that its phonetic part 壬 (OC *njɯm) may be the graphical representation of 任, depicting a shoulder pole rotated by 90 degrees.
Cognate with 妊 (OC *njɯms, “pregnant”) and Tibetan སྣོམ་པ (snom pa, “to take; seize; hold”). May also be cognate with Proto-Kam-Sui *ȵam¹ (“to hold”) and Old Khmer nāṃ (“to carry”) (Schuessler, 2007).

cog

Ren Bishi (military and political leader in the early Chinese Communist Party)

任弼時

任弼时


予

Traditionally considered a variant of 余 (OC *la), however Shijing and Chuci rhymes suggests that the expected tone reflex was rising tone, similar to Pronunciation 1 (Mattos, 1971; Pulleyblank, 1995), which corresponds to a glottal stop coda in Old Chinese. It could thus be reanalyzed an emphatic form of the *l- series of first-person pronouns, similar to 我 (OC *ŋaːlʔ, “me, us”) compared to 吾 (OC *ŋaː, “I, we”) in the *ŋ- series.
Cognate with 余 (OC *la), 台 (OC *lɯ, “I”), 朕 (OC *l'ɯmʔ). Further etymology is obscure (Schuessler, 2007). Li F. (1976) reconstructs Old Chinese *rag, and compares it to Proto-Tai *rawᴬ (“first person plural pronoun”) > Thai เรา (rao, “we”). However, Schuessler considers this etymon belonging to 兩 (OC *raŋʔ, *raŋs, “both”).

互
乎
與
護
付
給
呼
後
候
𢗝
厚
被
讓
使
俾
度

used without 的; GT - General Taiwanese (no specific region identified)


傌

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *mraːs): semantic 亻 (“person”) + phonetic 馬 (OC *mraːʔ).


侯

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (侯):
* → Japanese: 侯(こう) (kō, “marquess”)
* → Korean: 후(侯) (hu, “marquess”)
* → Vietnamese: hầu (侯, “marquess”)

→ Manchu: ᡥᡝᠣ (heo)

Pictogram (象形) – a target for arrows.
;"target" > "prince, marquis"
:Schuessler (2007) proposes an Austroasiatic etymology, comparing 侯 (OC *ɡoː) to Khmer គាស់ (kŏəh, “to raise (a crossbow) with a view to aiming”), Khmer [script needed] (kpoḥ, “to be raised up, clearly visible”), & Khmer [script needed] (goḥ, “to hit (squarely)”).
:When meaning "target > prince, marquis", possibly distinct from 后 (OC *ɡoːʔ, *ɡoːs, “(head >) ruler > queen”) (Schuessler, 2007; Goldin, 2021).
:Its derivatives, from sense "target (n.) > to target (v.)", are 候 (OC *ɡoːs) & 觀 (OC *koːn, *koːns), both meaning "to watch" (Schuessler, 2007); contra Lau (1999), who thinks sense "to watch" to be fundamental and "target; lord, marquis" to be derivatives..
;"to be; to have"

och-l

Hou Hsiao-hsien (Taiwanese film director)

侯孝賢

侯孝贤


他

Wutunhua: ta (“he; she; it”)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *l̥ʰaːl): semantic 亻 (“man”) + phonetic 也 (OC *laːlʔ).
Corrupted form of 佗 (OC *l̥ʰaːl, *l'aːl), which is found in Zuozhuan.
Etymology not clear (Schuessler, 2007). Perhaps cognate with 誃 (OC *l'al, *l̥ʰjalʔ, “to separate”).
The modern sense of "he, she, it" only emerged after the Han period in colloquial passages, and displaced classical 其 (OC *ɡɯ) and 之 (OC *tjɯ) in mandarin dialects. (Pulleyblank, 1995)
The phonological development from Middle Chinese was irregular. The expected reflex is tuō, which is sometimes used in literary contexts for the classical "other" sense, but in most Mandarin dialects it is read like tā.

Han compound

while 渠 is more common in other varieties

Chinese varieties in general do not distinguish gender

distinctions are only sometimes made in writing.佢 is commonly used in Yue


僮

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *doːŋ): semantic 亻 (“person”) + phonetic 童 (OC *doːŋ)


傑

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡrad): phonetic 桀 (OC *ɡrad) + semantic 亻 (“person”).
Same word as 桀 (OC *ɡrad) (Schuessler, 2007). See there for etymology.


儉

/t͡ɕi̯ɛn²¹⁴/

/t͡ɕi̯ɛn²¹⁴/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡramʔ): semantic 人 (“person”) + phonetic 僉 (OC *skʰlam).


停

→ Vietnamese: đừng (“do not”)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *deːŋ): semantic 亻 + phonetic 亭 (OC *deːŋ).
From 亭 (tíng) (Schuessler, 2007). See there for more.


主

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (主):
* → Japanese: 主(しゅ) (shu)
* → Korean: 주(主) (ju)
* → Vietnamese: chủ (主)

→ Proto-Tai: *ɕɤwꟲ (“master”)

desc

Lao: ເຈົ້າ (chao, “lord, master, owner”)

Thai: เจ้า (jâao, “lord, master, owner”)

→ Vietnamese: chúa (主, “retired father of a king”), Chúa (主, “Lord”)

Pictogram (象形). Three distinct forms can observed in ancient scripts, all of which have merged into the same character in modern script:
A lamp or torch with a flame at the top. Original form of 炷.
Wood (木, now 王) on fire.
A spirit tablet. Same character as 示.
Unrelated to the right component of 往 (< 𢓸).
Unclear. Compare Tibetan ཇོ་བོ (jo bo, “elder brother, nobleman, lord”), Tibetan ཇོ་མོ (jo mo, “mistress, lady, goddess”), Tibetan ཐུ། (thu, “chief”), Proto-Monic *(d)ndooʔ (“to teach, to instruct; headman”), and Thai โจก (jòok, “leader, chief”) (Schuessler, 2007)
Also compare Burmese အတို့ (a.tui., “honorific personal pronoun”).


佗

倒
叨
叼
搭
哪
底
迤


傲

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ŋaːws): semantic 人 (“person”) + phonetic 敖 (OC *ŋaːw).

Han compound

敖
奡
慠
㜜
驁
謷
㥿
嫯


倪

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ŋeː): semantic 亻 + phonetic 兒 (OC *ŋeː, *ŋje).


儲

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *da): semantic 人 + phonetic 諸 (OC *tjaː, *tja).


冉

Pictogram (象形) – uncertain. Possibly depicts hair hanging down (the original form of 髯) or the edge of a turtle shell (the original form of 𪚮).

Ran Qiu / Jan Ch‘iu (a leading disciple of Confucius)

冉求


僅

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡrɯns): semantic 人 + phonetic 堇 (OC *ɡrɯn, *kɯnʔ).


亞

Pictogram (象形): an overhead view of a construction, likely a 亞-shaped tomb. Perhaps borrowed phonetically to mean "second; inferior".
Probably from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ʔrak (“inferior; dependent”), whence Tibetan རག (rag, “to depend on; subject; subservient; dependent”) (Bodman, 1980; Coblin, 1986).
Karlgren (1957) connects it to 惡 (OC *qaːɡ, “evil”), but Schuessler (2007) considers this to be unlikely due to the semantics.
The shangsheng pronunciation in Mandarin (yǎ) is a result of influence from the pronunciation of 啞／哑 (yǎ), whose written form contains 亞 as a component (Fu, 1958).


仙

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (仙):
* → Japanese: 仙(せん) (sen)
* → Korean: 선(仙) (seon)
* → Vietnamese: tiên (仙)

→ Thai: เซียน (siian) (via Hokkien)

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) and phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *sen): semantic 亻 (“person”) + phonetic 山 (OC *sreːn, “mountain”) — a person moving into a mountain to practise becoming immortal.
Originally 僊. The current form is first attested in the clerical script of the Han dynasty.
A relatively late word, perhaps Sino-Tibetan (Schuessler, 2007). Compare Tibetan གཤེན (gshen, “shaman”), as in Tibetan གཤེན་རབ (gshen rab, “Shenrab”), the founder of the Tibetan religion Bon, although this might be a loan from Chinese (ibid.). Starostin sets up Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s[ă]n (“a kind of demon”), comparing it to Tibetan བསེན་མོ (bsen mo, “female devil”) and Jingpho sawn (“malignant female nat”).

cog

*僊
仚
屳
㒨
僲
𠑗
𠏡
銑


保

In the oracle script, this character was an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 人 (“person”) + 子 (“child”) – a person carrying a child on his back; to carry (a child) > to protect. See also 好.
In early bronze inscriptions, 爪 (“hand”) was added to the person to emphasize that the person was carrying the child. This was later simplified into one or two strokes. The current form has two.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *bəw (“to carry (on back or shoulders)”). Cognate with 抱 (OC *buːʔ, “to heft, hug”); see there for more (STEDT).

inh

𠈃
𠊻
𠌀
𠍂
𰠀
㙅
𤞥
𠦀
𠫡
𡥀
𣎼
𤔍
葆


世

* Pictogram (象形) – three leaves on a branch. The derivative 葉 (OC *hljeb, *leb) refers to the original word.
* Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): Triplication of 十 (“ten”) - thirty, such as a variant form 丗. Thirty years make one generation (thirty times twelve months gives 360 months). Compare 廿 (OC *njɯb, “id-2”).
世 (OC *hljebs) is derived from iterative devoicing of 葉 (OC *leb, “leaf”) + *-s suffix, meaning successive foliages of a tree > generations. Compare Tibetan ལོ་མ (lo ma, “leaf”), Western Tibetan ལོབ་མ (lob ma, “leaf”) and Tibetan ལོ (lo, “year”).


兌

In the oracle bone script, it is a ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 八 (“speech; breath”) + 口 (“mouth”) + 人 (“person”) – speech; original character of 說 (OC *hljod, “to speak”). It is also a phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *l'oːds): phonetic 㕣 (OC *lon) + semantic 人 (“person”).
Alternatively, 八 may be interpreted as smile lines above the mouth (Gao Hongjin) or as meaning “to divide” (Lin Yiguang, i.e. the mouth is divided when smiling); in either case, the character would be the original character of 悅 (OC *lod, “pleased”).


健

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡans): semantic 亻 (“person”) + phonetic 建 (OC *kans).
Perhaps from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *(g/k)aː(r/l) (“solid, congealed, frozen, viscous, strong”), and cognate with Burmese ခဲ (hkai:, “to freeze”) (STEDT).


依

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *qɯl): semantic 亻 (“human”) + phonetic 衣 (OC *qɯl, *qɯls).
Probably cognate with 倚 (OC *qralʔ, *qrals) (Wang, 1982). Perhaps 因 (OC *qin) is an allofam (Pulleyblank, 1991), though the vowels do not agree (Schuessler, 2007).

奧依亞依拉克

Àoyīyà Yīlākè

奥依亚依拉克

Àoyīyà Yīlākè


冼

冼星海


修

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *slɯw): phonetic 攸 (OC *lɯw) + semantic 彡.


供

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kloŋ, *kloŋs): semantic 亻 (“person”) + phonetic 共 (OC *kloŋ, *ɡloŋs).


傅

→ English: Fu, Poh

→ Tagalog: Po

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *paɡs): semantic 人 (“man”) + phonetic 尃 (OC *pʰa).

Han compound

傅雷


儒

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *njo): semantic 亻 (“human”) + phonetic 需 (OC *sno).
Origin obscure. Chen (2013) – following Xu Shen's Shuowen Jiezi, etc. – links 儒 (OC *njo, “sorcerers, intellectuals, government officials, Confucians”) to 柔 (OC *mlju, “soft”) and 懦 (OC *noːls, *njo, “weak, timid”) "probably derived from the nature of the profession, registered by softness, suppleness, and flexibility".


凱

Two possibilities:
* Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ŋ̊ʰɯːlʔ): semantic 豈 (“drum”) + phonetic 几 (OC *krilʔ), in which case 豈 may have been the initial form of this character.
* Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ŋ̊ʰɯːlʔ): phonetic 豈 (OC *ŋ̊ʰɯːlʔ, *ŋ̊ʰɯlʔ) + semantic 几.
Originally used to mean “music of triumph; victory music”.


來

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (來):
* → Japanese: 来(らい) (rai)
* → Korean: 래(來) (rae)
* → Vietnamese: lai (來)

Shuowen
Warring States period
Western Zhou

Pictogram (象形) of wheat – original character of 麥 (OC *mrɯːɡ, “wheat”) or 麳 (OC *rɯː, “wheat”). The line in the middle represents the ear, the two lines pointing upwards represent leaves, and the lines pointing downwards represent the stem and roots. An additional horizontal line was often added at the top end of the character, possibly used to emphasize the ear of the wheat. Compare 禾; both are unrelated to 釆
This character has been borrowed for “to come” since the oracle bone script. During the Western Zhou and Warring States periods, additional semantic components, such as 止 (“foot”) or 辵 (“to walk”), were added to differentiate the original sense from the borrowed sense. However, these additions were not inherited in later scripts.
Some consider the derivative 麥 from the addition of 夊 (“to walk slowly”) to be the original form for the meaning “to come”. If so, their meanings have interchanged due to frequent use of 來 for “to come”.
Shuowen connects “wheat” and “to come” from a mythological standpoint: 天所來也 (“it comes from the heavens”). This may be supported by archaeological evidence, which suggests that wheat is not native to China, but originated in the Fertile Crescent.
來 and 麥 have both been reconstructed to begin with *mr- in Old Chinese. The former retains the liquid as /l/, while the latter retains the nasal /m/.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *la-j ~ ra (“to come”) (STEDT). Cognate with 迨 (OC *l'ɯːʔ, “to reach; until”), 賚 (OC *rɯːs, “to bestow”), Burmese လာ (la, “to come”). Also cognate with 蒞 (OC *rɯbs, “to arrive”) according to Schuessler (2007).

inh

来
𧼛
倈
逨
徠
来
麳
䅘


佛

仏
𰁰
㚕
仸
𠑵
𠇛
𦤲

Bi Xi is in rebellion, holding possession of Zhongmu.

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

佛肸以中牟畔。


令

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (令):
* → Japanese: 令(りょう) (ryō); 令(れい) (rei)
* → Vietnamese: lệnh (令), lành (令)

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 亼 + 卩. The upper part is an open mouth to convey the idea of giving orders, while the bottom part is a kneeling man. Compare 兄, in which an open mouth on top of the character conveys the same idea of giving orders.
Usually thought to be related to 命 (OC *mreŋs, “order”) (Schuessler, 2007). As a surname, 令 has many origins, one of them is 令狐 (Línghú).


伊

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *qlil): semantic 亻 (“person”) + phonetic 尹 (OC *ɢʷlinʔ).
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *(h)i ~ *(h)aj (“this; here”). Cognate with Burmese ဤ (i, “this”).

inh-lite

𠁼
𰁢
𠈽
𦯴
𠜧
𠜰
佢
渠
夷


傘

Pictogram (象形) – pictographic representation of an umbrella.

伞
繖
𢄻
伞
仐
𠋔
𠌂
𠍘
𠎃
𡙘
𡙫


僧

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *sɯːŋ): semantic 亻 (“person”) + phonetic 曾 (OC *ʔsɯːŋ, *zɯːŋ) – a kind of person (a Buddhist monk).
Clipping of 僧伽 (MC song gja, “sangha; community of monks, nuns, novices and laity”); see there for more.


凍

→ Old Turkic: dong (frozen)

Old Turkic: dong- (to freeze)

Turkish: donmak

Azerbaijani: donmaq

Turkmen: doňmak

Turkmen: doň ýürek (coldhearted)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *toːŋ, *toːŋs): semantic 冫 + phonetic 東 (OC *toːŋ).


刈

Originally written as 乂. Now phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ŋads) and ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): phonetic 乂 (OC *ŋads, “to mow”) + semantic 刂 (“knife”). The phonetic component originally indicates a sickle, hence it also adds part of the meaning.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *r-ŋa-p (“to mow, cut, reap”) (STEDT, Schuessler, 2007).
Cognate with Tibetan རྔ་བ (rnga ba), བརྔས (brngas), and colloquial Western Tibetan རྔབ་བ (rngab ba), which Coblin (1986) and STEDT treat as more conservative.


代

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (代):
* → Japanese: 代(だい) (dai)
* → Korean: 대(代) (dae)
* → Vietnamese: đại (代)

→ Vietnamese: đời (𠁀)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *l'ɯːɡs): semantic 亻 (“person”) + phonetic 弋 (OC *lɯɡ)
;state's name → toponym
Most of the people with this surname in Mainland China were originally with the surname 戴 (Dài) and was a result of second-round simplification of Chinese characters.


僚

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *rewʔ, *reːw): semantic 人 (“person”) + phonetic 尞 ().


党

党家村


信

Sino-Xenic (信):
* → Vietnamese: tín (信)

→ Vietnamese: tin

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) and
phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *hljins): phonetic 人 (OC *njin, “person”) + semantic 言 (“word”).
Schuessler (2007) reconstructs the Old Chinese minimally as *sin and suggests possible derivation from 允 (OC *winʔ, “to trust; to be true”).
Alternatively, Sagart and Baxter (2012) reconstruct *s-niŋ-s (*s-ni[ŋ]-s in Baxter and Sagart, 2014) and suggest a derivation from 仁 (OC *niŋ, “kind”) with the prefix *s-, probably used to increase its valency.


乾

/t͡ɕʰi̯ɛn³⁵/

/t͡ɕʰi̯ɛn³⁵/

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *m-ka-n (“heaven; sky; sun”). Cognate with Tibetan མཁའ (mkha'), ནམ་མཁའ (nam mkha', “sky; heaven”) and Namuyi nɛ⁵⁵ ŋkhɛ³³ mu³³ (“sky”).

cog

nɛ⁵⁵ ŋkhɛ³³ mu³³


劦

Characters in the same phonetic series (劦) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): three 力 (“plough”) – to plough together; to cooperate.
Triplication of 力 (“plough”).


俞

In oracle bone script, it was likely a phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声): semantic 凡 + phonetic inverted 由 (OC *lɯw), hence a form vaguely similar to 甲. It's also possible that the phonetic component is instead an ancient form of 鏃 (OC *ʔsoːɡ).
In bronze inscriptions, 凡 corrupted into 舟, and the bottom-right subcomponent of 甲 gradually corrupted into two lines 巜 (now written 刂). The upper-right subcomponent (vaguely similar to 口) was eventually stylized as (亼) and moved to the top of the character in bamboo slips. Eventually, 舟 was further corrupted into 月, arriving at the modern form.
Unrelated to 前, 刖, 巜, and 巛.

Yu Dayou (Chinese general and martial artist during the Ming dynasty)

俞大猷


兔

Pictogram (象形) – a rabbit.
Probably Sino-Tibetan; compare Japhug qala (“rabbit”) (with animal prefix qa-), Lisu ꓕꓳꓽ ꓡꓻ (tʰò lɑ) (Schuessler, 2007; Zhang et al., 2019).

cog

Lisu ꓕꓳꓽ ꓡꓻ (tʰò lɑ)


優

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *qu): semantic 亻 + phonetic 憂 (OC *qu).


勵

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *m·rads): phonetic 厲 (OC *m·rads) + semantic 力.


允

Oracle bone script: Pictogram (象形) – a person with the head emphasized, indicating a nod.
Bronze inscriptions onward (corrupted form): Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *lunʔ): phonetic 㠯 (OC *lɯʔ) + semantic 儿 (“person”).
Schuessler (2007) minimally reconstructs *winʔ or *junʔ:
* If *junʔ, then possibly related to Burmese ယုံ (yum, “to believe”); if so, from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *yum (“to believe”); other cognates would then be Asho Chin yón-é, Mara Chin zó, Lahu ʑo³¹.
* If *winʔ, then 信 (OC *hljins) (minimally reconstructed *sin(s)) is its possible derivative.


丸

→ Vietnamese: viên

Ideogram (指事), differentiated form of 夗 (OC *qonʔ), which was originally the same character.
Shuowen suggests that it is an ideogram (指事) from flipped 仄 (“to tilt”) – something that can be tilted and turned; something round.
Unrelated to the right component of characters like 執 and 孰, which comes from 丮 (a kneeling person with stretched arms to indicate "to hold").


剩

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɦljɯŋs): phonetic 乘 (OC *ɦljɯŋ, *ɦljɯŋs) + semantic 刀.


價

→ Lao: ຄ່າ (khā)

→ Thai: ค่า (kâa)

→ Zhuang: gyaq

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kraːs): semantic 人 + phonetic 賈 (OC *kraːʔ, *kraːs, *klaːʔ, “sell”).
Perhaps related to 賈 (OC *kraːʔ, *kraːs, *klaːʔ, “to sell”).


劍

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (劍):
* → Japanese: 剣(けん) (ken)
* → Korean: 검(劍) (geom)
* → Vietnamese: kiếm (劍)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kams): phonetic 僉 (OC *skʰlam) + semantic 刂.
Schuessler (2007) proposes a possible native origin, from *k-nominalized adjective 剡 (OC *ɦljamʔ, *lamʔ), which is from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-rjam (“sharp”) and lost its *r- initial due to folk etymology; doublets 磏 (OC *r(i)am, “whetstone”) and 鐮 (OC *ɡ·rem, “sickle”) retain *r-.
Alternatively, the double-edged sword seemingly originated from the southern state of Wu (吳); so a native Wu term, of unknown linguistic affiliation, might have yielded both Old Chinese 劍 (OC *kams) and Proto-Vietic *t-kɨəm ( > Vietnamese gươm).

Han compound

剑
劎
劒
劔
𠠆
鐱
釼
剣
𠝏
剱


冥

Originally ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 冖 (“cloth cover”) + 日 (“sun”) + 廾 (“two hands”); hence, the upper part of the character is 𠕾. The 廾 was later corrupted to 六.
May also be a phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *meːŋ): phonetic 冖 (OC *meːɡ) + semantic 日 + semantic 廾 (Shuowen Jiezi).
An area word for "night"; Compare Proto-Hmong-Mien *ʰməŋH (“night”), Proto-Bahnaric *maŋ (“night”), Burmese မည်း (many:, “dark; black”) (Schuessler, 2007).
STEDT compares it to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *muːŋ ~ r/s-muːk (“foggy; dark; sullen; menacing; thunder”).


勉

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *mronʔ): phonetic 免 (OC *mronʔ) + semantic 力 (“strong”) – make a strong effort.


冰

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *pŋrɯŋ, *ŋrɯŋ): semantic 水 + phonetic 仌 (OC *pŋrɯŋ, *ŋrɯŋ).
The above vulgar character in Shuowen Jiezi is 凝.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *r-p(w)am (“to freeze; snow”) (provisionally reconstructed). Compare Proto-Tani *pam (“snow”), Japhug jpɣom (“to freeze”), tɤjpɣom (“ice”), and perhaps Tangut 𘒓 (*par¹, “to congeal”) (STEDT; Schuessler, 2007; Zhang, Jacques, and Lai, 2019; Jacques, 2014).
Within Chinese, 凌 (OC *rɯŋ, “ice”) and possibly 凝 (OC *ŋrɯŋ, “to congeal”) are usually considered cognates (STEDT; Zhengzhang, 2003; Schuessler, 2007; Baxter and Sagart, 2014). However, they are phonologically difficult to reconcile with the Tibeto-Burman cognates above (cf. Schuessler, 2007).
STEDT also includes 雱 (OC *pʰaːŋ, “heavy (snowfall)”) and 霙 (OC *qraŋ, “snowflake”) in the Chinese comparandum of Proto-Sino-Tibetan *r-p(w)am.
Alternatively, this may be related to Old Khmer ប្រិង៑ (“to harden; to solidify”), from រិង៑ (“to dry up”), although the meanings are difficult to reconcile (Schuessler, 2007).

cog

仌
冫
氷
𣲝
𨻱
𣲙
仒


刑

Originally written as 㓝, phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡeːŋ): phonetic 井 (OC *skeŋʔ) + semantic 刂. Later corrupted as 𠛬 (⿰幵刂), phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡeːŋ): phonetic 幵 (OC *kŋeːn) + semantic 刂.


中

Pictogram (象形) – a flagpole. Based on archaeological evidence, the middle box has been interpreted as a drum (建鼓). This flagpole with a drum was placed in the center of a field to gather people and to detect the direction of the wind. In addition, the pronunciation of 中 (OC *tuŋ, *tuŋs) is reminiscent of the beating of a drum.
Shuowen interprets the character as a vertical stroke 丨 passing through the center of 口, indicating the center.
It has also been interpreted as an arrow in the center of a target.
“Middle; centre” (Pronunciation 1) > “to hit the centre; to attain” (Pronunciation 2).
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *t/duŋ. Cognate with Tibetan གཞུང (gzhung, “middle, center”).
Related to:
* 衷 (OC *tuŋ, *tuŋs, “middle; inner garment; inner feelings”);
* 仲 (OC *duŋs, “second (of the brothers or months)”).


列

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 歹 (“skeletal remains”) + 刀 (“knife”) – to tear apart.


勸

→ Vietnamese: khuyên

/t͡ɕʰy̯ɛn⁵¹/

/t͡ɕʰyɵn²¹³/

/t͡ɕʰy̯ɛn⁵¹/

/t͡ɕʰyɵn²¹³/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kʰons): phonetic 雚 (OC *koːns) + semantic 力 (“strength”).


匡

Pictogram of a square-shaped bamboo basket (perhaps originally made to contain millet and rice); the inner component is 㞷, which today retains only the bottom component 王 as a phonetic element. The inner component The original form is 匩 and the original meaning is preserved in 筐.


劇

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡaɡ): phonetic 豦 (OC *kas, *ɡa) + semantic 刀 (“knife”).


劉

→ English: Liu, Lau

→ Tagalog: Lao

Emperor Yao
King Ding of Zhou
Kong Jia
Xia dynasty

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *m·ru): phonetic 卯 (OC *mruːʔ) + semantic 金 (“metal”) + semantic 刂 (“knife”).
Often written as 卯 (OC *mruːʔ) in the oracle bone script.
;kill, slaughter
;battle-axe
;surname
:Two origins are recorded: from 劉累 Liú Lěi, descendant of Emperor Yao and dragon-keeper of King Kong Jia of Xia; and from the Liu state (劉國) ruled by Duke Kang of Liu, younger brother of King Ding of Zhou.

Han compound

Liu Bang (founding emperor of the Han Dynasty)

劉邦

刘邦

Liu Shaoqi (Chinese revolutionary, politician and theorist)

劉少奇

刘少奇


凌

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *rɯŋ): semantic 冫 (“ice”) + phonetic 夌 (OC *rɯŋ).
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *r-p(w)am (“to freeze; snow”) (provisionally reconstructed) (STEDT).
:Insides Sinitic, 凌 (OC *p.rəŋ ~ [r]əŋ) is cognate with 冰 (OC *p.rəŋ), 雱 (OC *pʰˁaŋ) "heavy snowfall", 霙 (OC *qraŋ, “*ʔraŋ”) "snowflake, sleet", & possibly also 凝 (OC [ŋ](r)əŋ) "to congeal" (STEDT; Baxter and Sagart, 2014);
:Outsides Sinitic, cognate with Proto-Tani *pam (“snow”), Japhug jpɣom (“to freeze”), tɤjpɣom (“ice”) (STEDT; Zhang, Jacques, and Lai, 2019).
Alternatively, 冰 (OC *prjəŋ ~ prəŋ?) and 凌 (OC *b-rjəŋ ~ rəŋ) may be related to Old Khmer ប្រិង៑ (“to harden; to solidify”) from រិង៑ (“to dry up”), although the meanings are difficult to reconcile (Schuessler, 2007).

och-l

*p.rəŋ ~ 􂀿r􂁀əŋ

Ling Mengchu (Ming dynasty Chinese writer)

凌濛初


勤

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡɯn): phonetic 堇 (OC *ɡrɯn, *kɯnʔ) + semantic 力 (“strong”) – to work hard, to be diligent.


卑

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 甲 (“fan”) + 𠂇 (“hand”) - a man holding a fan, indicating that he is a servant.
Note similarities to Burmese ပေ (pe, “to be soiled, dirty”).


叚

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 爪 (“hand”) + 又 (“hand”) + 石 (“stone”). The stone indicates the ancient pronunciation, while the hands indicate the original concept of "borrowing". A conservative variant is 𠭊. Most of the character is identical to 段.


再

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (再):
* → Japanese: 再(さい) (sai)
* → Korean: 재(再) (jae)
* → Vietnamese: tái (再)

Uncertain. There are some hypotheses:
* Xu Zhongshu: Bottom half of 冓, pictogram (象形) of a fish, then drawn in a similar way to 丙 (perhaps a fish tail). See 魚 and 丙
* Shizuka Shirakawa：Pictogram (象形) of tools used for weaving ropes.
* Ji Xusheng: Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 魚 (“fish”) + 二 (“two”) – to catch two fish at once (kill two birds with one stone). Compare the original version of 亟.
* Xu Shen: Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 一 (“one”) + abbreviated 冓 – same as above.
Cognate with 載 (OC *ʔslɯːʔ, “year”), 茲 (OC *ʔsɯ, “year”), 薦 (OC *ʔseːns, “repeatedly”), 洊 (OC *zlɯːns, “again; repeatedly”), 荐 (OC *zlɯːns, “repeatedly”) (Schuessler, 2007).


假

→ Lingao: ke¹ (via Hainanese)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kraːʔ, *kraːs): semantic 人 + phonetic 叚 (OC *kraːʔ).
; “to borrow; false”
: Cognate with Tibetan ཀར་སྐྱིན (kar skyin, “loan; thing borrowed”). An allofam is probably 雇 (OC *kʷaːs, *ɡʷaːʔ, “to hire”).


勇

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (勇):
* → Japanese: 勇(ゆう) (yū)
* → Korean: 용(勇) (yong)
* → Vietnamese: dũng (勇)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *loŋʔ): phonetic 甬 (OC *loŋʔ) + semantic 力 (“strong”) – brave and strong.


兒

儿
児
𠒇
𫤘
児
𠒇
𫤘


務

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (務):
* → Japanese: 務(む) (mu)
* → Korean: 무(務) (mu)
* → Vietnamese: vụ (務)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *moɡs): phonetic 敄 (OC *moʔ, *mos) + semantic 力 (“strength”).
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *mow (“to work; to move”) (STEDT). Cognate with 懋 (OC *mus, “to strive”), Garo mo (“to move”), Jingpho mu ⪤ ə mu (“work; labor”), Burmese မူ (mu, “to pursue some course of action; to act”), အမှု (a.hmu., “lawsuit”).


升

→ Tocharian B: ṣank


全

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (全):
* → Japanese: 全(ぜん) (zen)
* → Korean: 전(全) (jeon)
* → Vietnamese: toàn (全)

/t͡ɕʰy̯ɛn³⁵/

/t͡ɕʰy̯ɛn³⁵/

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 入 + 玉 (“jade”) – a whole piece of jade; pure jade.
Cognate with 痊 (OC *sʰlon, “to become cured”) (Karlgren, 1956).


余

→ English: Yu, Yue, Yee, Eu, Ee, Er

余華

余华


卓

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) of a child (子) with a type of flag (ㅏ) on its head. (Ji Xusheng, 2004)
The child is now written in a way similar to 早 in the modern script.
Derivative: 桌 (OC *rteːwɢ, “table”).


吁

Characters in the same phonetic series (于) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *qʰʷa, *ɢʷas): semantic 口 (“mouth”) + phonetic 于 (OC *ɢʷa).


危

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 厃 (“person on a cliff or mountain”) + 卩 (“kneeling person”).
Written like 𡴲 during the Warring States period, an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 人 (“person”) + 山 (“mountain”).
Starostin reconstructs Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ŋō̆j (~-ō̆l) (“high, rise”) and compares 危 to Burmese ငွား (ngwa:, “be large, great, be high, to project prominently above and beyond others”), Jingpho [script needed] (ŋoi, “to rise, as a hill”); & possibly Proto-Kiranti *ŋo-.
Schuessler (2007) notes that Chinese and Written Burmese can be reconciled by assuming an ST final *-l; furthermore, 危 (OC *ŋoi) may be a vocalic variant of 巍 (OC *ŋui), which in turn is related to 魏 (OC *ŋuih).


博

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *paːɡ): semantic 十 + phonetic 尃 (OC *pʰa).


不

/foʊ̯⁵⁵ foʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ pi̯ɑʊ̯⁵⁵/

/foʊ̯⁵⁵ foʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ pi̯ɑʊ̯⁵⁵/


吏

Alternative descendant of 叓, which is the ancient form of 事. Furthermore, both characters are related to 史, which was born as a variant without the horizontal stroke on top.
The character should represent a hand holding a flag to mean "representative, ambassador"; see 使.
See 理 (lǐ, “envoy, jail official, matchmaker”).


冬

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) and phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *tuːŋ): phonetic 夂 (, “end”) + semantic 日 (“day”) or 仌 (“ice”).
;Bronze script and Chu slip script
:Composed of the early form of 終 (“end”, as well phonetic), here represented by Shuowen ancient script , + 日 (“day”). In bronze script, 日 () was inside . In Chu slip script, 日 () was below ().
; Seal script, Qin clerical script and after
:Composed of (“end”, as well phonetic) + 仌 (“ice”).
Possibly related to 終 (OC *tjuŋ, “to end”) (Wang, 1982, Sagart, 2023b). Sagart (ibid.) also proposes cognacy to Chepang त्युङ्हसा (tyuŋh, “at end, be weak, exhausted”), द्युमःसा (dyumʔ, “at ease after completing work”), द्युम्सा (dyum, “terminate, reach end; to be at end”), Jingpho chatum (“end, finish”), Limbu [script needed] (tum-ma, “ripe, mature”), Proto-Ao *a-thəm (“end, finish”).

cog

昸
㫡
𠔙
𣆼
𠘀
𣅈
𠘗


司

Inconclusive.
* Jì Xùshēng: a mouth 口 giving orders and a scepter 刁 of authority.
* Liú Xìnglóng interprets 刁 to be a hand instead.
* Táng Lán: Originally the same character as 后, which later diverged.
* Shuowen: 后 flipped.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *zə; cognate with Proto-Kukish *ca, Mru caŋ (“to do; to make”), and Tibetan མཛད (mdzad, “to do; to act”), མཛོད (mdzod), possibly also related to བཟོ (bzo, “work, labour”) (Schuessler, 2007). Schuessler disputes Löffler's (1966) proposed connection of these cognates to 作 (OC *ʔsaːɡs, *ʔsaːɡs, *ʔsaːɡ, “to do, work, make”) due to phonological difficulties.
Unger (1984) posits a possible relationship with Tibetan རྫི་པོ (rdzi po, “herdsman”).


加

Shuowen: ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 力 (“strength”) + 口 (“mouth”) — exaggerate; slander.
Sun Changxu: ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 力 (“plowing”) + 口 (“mouth”) — to put more effort. 口 here indicates exclamations or breath associated with the effort.
駕 (OC *kraːls, “to yoke”) is the exopassive of 加 (OC *kraːl, “to add; to attach”) (Schuessler, 2007). Cognate with Tibetan ཁྲལ (khral, “to impose a tax”), Burmese ကြား (kra:, “between”).


剛

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *klaːŋ): phonetic 岡 (OC *klaːŋ) + semantic 刀 (“knife”).

Along with 鋼 (OC *klaːŋ, *klaːŋs, “steel”), derived from the terminative of 固 (OC *kaːs, “firm, solid, hard”), literally "having become solid, hard" (Schuessler, 2007).


厥

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kod, *kud): semantic 厂 + phonetic 欮 (OC *kod).


召

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *dews, *djews): phonetic 刀 (OC *taːw) + semantic 口 (“mouth”) – originally, to call out (with one’s mouth) or to serve wine for guests. Part of the second original meaning is preserved in 招.
In the most ancient versions on some oracle bones, the character was totally different: it represented one or two hands over a wine vessel; the knife and mouth components were added later to this variant.


即

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (即):
* → Japanese: 即(そく) (soku)
* → Korean: 즉(卽) (jeuk)
* → Vietnamese: tức (即)

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 皀 (“ancient round-mouthed food vessel”) + 卩 (“to kneel”) – to come near to eat; to approach.


占

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 卜 (“divination”) + 口 (“mouth”).


勞

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): abbreviated 熒 + 力.


呆

; Etymology 1
; Etymology 2
; Etymology 3


及

Sino-Xenic (及):
* → Vietnamese: cập (及)

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 人 (“person”) + 又 (“hand”) – a hand grabbing a person.
Possibly connected to Burmese ကပ် (kap, “to arrive at”) or Jingpho khap (“to carry, to reach”) (Starostin and Peiros, 1996) or less likely to Tibetan འགྲུབ་པ ('grub pa) ~ འགྲུབ ('grub, “to make ready”), སྒྲུབ་པ (sgrub pa) ~ བསྒྲུབ (bsgrub, “to complete, achieve”), གྲུབ་པ (grub pa, “complete”) (Schuessler, 2007).
Possibly departing tone derivations are 暨 (jì, “to attain, to reach”), 迄 (qì, “to reach to”), and 既 (jì, “already”) (Yu, 1948, Baxter, 1992). However, see those entries for more.


兩

According to Shuowen Jiezi an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 一 + 㒳.
Baxter (1992) observes that, in historical forms, the character is two 丙 (OC *praŋʔ) joined together; this would make 丙 the phonetic component in a sort of phono-ideogrammic compound (see also Baxter & Sagart (2014)).
The character could be linked to the original form of 更, which represents two chariots and a whip.
Unknown. Schuessler (2007) proposes two possible etymologies:
* Borrowing from Kra-Dai; compare Proto-Tai *rawᴬ (“we”) > Thai เรา (rao, “we”), Zhuang raeuz (“we (inclusive)”); Proto-Kam-Sui *hra¹ (“two”) > Southern Kam yac (“two”), Sui xgaz (“two”).
* Cognate with Tibetan སྲང (srang, “balance; scale; weight; unit of weight”).
Derivative: 輛 (OC *raŋs, “chariot”) (literally “that which is paired”, i.e. “a set of wheels”).

cog

两
㒳
𭃂
両
两
㒳
𭃂


呂

desc

→ English: Lu, Lü, Lui, Lv, Lyu, Loo, Luy, Lou, Lew

Pictogram (象形) of two vertebrae. The character was later borrowed phonetically to mean "I; give" and modified and stylized into 予.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *g-ra-t (“bone”) (STEDT).

Lü Bu (Chinese military general and warlord who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty)

呂布

吕布


吸

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *qʰrɯb): semantic 口 (“mouth”) + phonetic 及 (OC *ɡrɯb) – to inhale through the mouth. Note that 及 originally derives from “grab”, hence connotations of “grab through the mouth, inhale”.


凡

Pictogram (象形) – a plate, a flat dish. See also 風 and 同. Unrelated to 几.
Borrowed for abstract meanings. Another character 盤 (OC *baːn) was created to refer to the original word.
As an alternative, a bucket. If the character represents a bucket, part of its original meaning could be preserved in 同 and in turn in 筒 (OC *doːŋ, *doːŋs, “bucket”).
According to Schuessler (2007), Sino-Tibetan in origin; compare Mizo pum (“whole; all”), Burmese ဘုံ (bhum, “common, public, communal”). Cognate with 法 (OC *pqab, “law”).


吉

→ English: Ji

Ideogram (指事) derived from a ritual axe 士 and an open mouth 口, perhaps with a reference to rituals to obtain the gratitude of the ancestors and deities.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-kjit (“happy; pleased”) (STEDT). Also compare Tibetan སྐྱིད་པ (skyid pa, “to be happy”) and Burmese ချစ် (hkyac, “to love, to be pleased”) (Schuessler, 2007, Hill, 2019).
Cantonese sense of “empty” arises from avoidance of 空 (hung¹), which is homophonous to 凶 (hung¹, “inauspicious”).
The Taiwanese Chinese sense of “to sue” arises from avoidance of 告 (gào, “to sue”), which is a typo form of it.


吼

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *qʰloːʔ, *qʰloːs): semantic 口 (“mouth”) + phonetic 孔 (OC *kʰloːŋʔ).


友

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 又 (“hand”) + 又 (“hand”) – two right hands meeting in friendship. Also phono-semantic (形聲／形声), from 又 (OC *ɢʷɯs).
Endoactive derivation of 右 (OC *ɢʷɯʔ, “right”) (Schuessler, 2007). Cognate with Tibetan གྲོགས (grogs, “friend; companion”) (STEDT).