马

Simplified from 馬, following the cursive script form


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


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

半文半白


己

→ Zhuang: geij

Pictogram (象形) – silk rope for binding objects. Original form of 紀 (OC *kɯʔ). The character must not be confused with 已 and 巳.
Unknown (Schuessler, 2007).


手

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (手):
* → Japanese: 手(しゅ) (shu)
* → Korean: 수(手) (su)
* → Vietnamese: thủ (手)

Characters in the same phonetic series (手) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Pictogram (象形) – hand and fingers. The top stroke is the bent over middle finger, while the horizontal strokes are each two fingers. Compare 爪, 寸, 九, 又, and 彐 as a stylized hand. See also the bottom part of 举 and 奉.
Note that unlike the other hand/claw characters, 手 has consistently had five fingers: a mammalian/human hand, as opposed to the three digits often found in the others.
Compare also 止 (“foot”), derived from a footprint, originally composed of 3 toes and a sole.
STEDT compares this word to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *g-(t)sjəw-k/ŋ (“wing; hand”) based on Karlgren's Archaic Chinese (Old Chinese) reconstruction *śi̯ôg, connecting it to Tibetan གཤོག (gshog, “wing”).
However, this comparison is not supported by more recent scholarship, in which the Old Chinese is reconstructed with an alveolar nasal (Unger, 1995; Zhengzhang, 1995; Baxter and Sagart, 2014). Evidence for the nasal initial is given in Sagart (1999):
* 杻 (“handcuffs”) can be written as 杽, so 丑 (OC *ᵇhnruʔ) (with a nasal initial) and 手 seem to be interchangeable as phonetics.
* The ancient graph 丑 resembles the graph of 又 (“right hand”). 狃 (OC *ᵇnruʔ, “animal track; claw”) seems to be the modern specialized form of 丑, which has been borrowed to represent an earthly branch.
As done by Sagart (1999), Baxter and Sagart (2014) put 杻 (OC *n̥uʔ, “handcuffs”) and 狃 (OC *Cə.nuʔ, “animal track; claw”) into the same word family as 手 (OC *n̥uʔ). Zhengzhang (1995) suggests a connection to Burmese ညှိုး (hnyui:, “forefinger”), which STEDT derives from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-njuŋ ~ *s-m-juŋ ~ *s-m-juw (“finger”).
Alternatively, Schuessler (2007) suggests a tone B endoactive derivation from 收 (OC *nhiu?, “to take; to gather”), literally “that which is doing the taking”.


比

Characters in the same phonetic series (比) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 人 (“man”) + 人 – to juxtapose. Similar but unrelated to 从, 尼, 化 and 北.
Perhaps from a Proto-Sino-Tibetan *phi-r/n/s (“late, behind, after, outside”) (STEDT root #5883). Cognate with 頻 (OC *bin, “several in succession”); outside of Sinitic, compare Proto-Naga *pʰaːy (“after”), as well as possibly Burmese ပြင် (prang, “outside”).


角

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (角):
* → Japanese: 角(かく) (kaku)
* → Korean: 각(角) (gak)
* → Vietnamese: giác (角)

→ Khmer: កាក់ (kak)
→ English: kak

→ Thai: กั๊ก (gák)

→ Vietnamese: góc

/t͡ɕi̯ɑʊ̯²¹⁴/

/t͡ɕi̯ɑʊ̯²¹⁴/

Characters in the same phonetic series (角) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Pictogram (象形) – a horn. A conservative version is 𧢲. Similar but unrelated to 甬, 用, and the bottom part of 備.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *krəw (“horn; angle; corner”) (STEDT). Cognate with Tibetan རྭ (rwa, “horn”), Garo grong (“horn”), Jingpho nrung (“horn”), Chepang रोङः (roŋʔ, “horn”), 觡 (OC *kraːɡ, “antler”). The Tibeto-Burman *-ŋ final variant is reflected in 觥 (OC *kʷraːŋ, “drinking vessel made from animal horn”) (Schuessler, 2007). Possibly also related to 鹿 (OC *b·roːɡ, “deer”) (Sagart, 1999).
A derivative is 餃 (“stuffed dumpling”), named for its horn-like shape (Norman, 1988).
It is probably unrelated with Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥h₂nós (“horn”) ( < *ḱerh₂- (“horn”)) and Proto-Semitic *ḳarn- (“horn”) despite the phonological and semantic resemblance between the three.

och-l

Why is the note called jué? Jué means yuè ‘to leap’' the yang-fluid stirs and leaps; …

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

Suǒyǐ míng zhī wèi jué zhě? Yuè yě, yángqì dòngyuè;.......

所以名之為角者？躍也，陽氣動躍；……。

所以名之为角者？跃也，阳气动跃；……。

(music) third note in the Chinese pentatonic scale, or mi


非

CJKV/code

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

Characters in the same phonetic series (非) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Pictogram (象形) - two wings facing opposite directions. Originally, it represented wings; then, according to Xu Shen, its meaning changed into "leave; disobey" (違). Eventually, it was used perhaps as a phonetic loan to mean "not to be".
Unrelated to the Kangxi radical 韭.
非 (OC *pɯj) is the fusion of the negation particle 不 (OC *pɯ, *pɯʔ, *pɯ', “not”) and the copula 惟 (OC *ɢʷi, “to be”), attested in oracle bone inscriptions.
;“to have got to”

Han etyl

(～母) (Chinese linguistics) the Middle Chinese initial of 非 (MC pj+j)


香

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (香):
* → Vietnamese: hương (香)

desc

→ Indonesian: hio (“joss stick, incense”)

Characters in the same phonetic series (香) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
In the oracle bone script, it was ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 黍 (“glutinous millet”) + 口 (“mouth”). The whole character perhaps indicate that millet was used to produce liquor from fermentation which could be drank and/or sacrificed.
In the seal script, the 口 was replaced with the related 甘 (“sweet”). Hence, the most conservative variant is 𪏽.
Currently, the 黍 has simplified into 禾 and the form of the bottom component 甘 has become akin to the unrelated 曰.

Han compound

† - euphemistic; ‡ - usually of the elderly; ¤ - humorous; § - derogatory/disrespectful

(religion) joss stick; incense (Classifier: 束 m; 支)

香督

(historical) shorthand for Hong Kong during Japanese Occupation between 1941 and 1945


高

→ English: Gao, Kao, Ko

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (高):
* → Japanese: 高(こう) (kō)
* → Korean: 고(高) (go)
* → Vietnamese: cao (高)

Characters in the same phonetic series (高) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Pictogram (象形) – a tall building. Compare 京, which however is not a Kangxi radical.
Possibly from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *m/s-gaw (“head”). Compare with Burmese ခေါင်း (hkaung:, “head”). However, 元 (OC *ŋon, “head”) instead is more likely to be related to this Proto-Sino-Tibetan root given its significant semantic agreement (Schuessler, 2007).
Likely allofams are 喬 (OC *ɡrew, “tall”), and perhaps 浩 (OC *ɡuːʔ, “vast”) (although the vowels do not agree).

Han etyl

居高臨下

居高临下


飛

CJKV/code

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

Characters in the same phonetic series (飛) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Pictogram (象形): a bird flying upwards.
In its modern form, resembles a tasseled 升 (shēng).
* Proto-Sino-Tibetan *bjar ~ *p(i/u)r (“to fly”) → Tibetan འཕུར ('phur), Burmese ပျံ (pyam, “to fly”).
* Proto-Mon-Khmer *par (“to fly”) → Old Mon ပဝ် (pɔ); Proto-Vietic *pər (“to fly”), whereas Vietnamese bay.
Cognate with Old Chinese 翂 (*pɯn, “appearance of birds flying slowly”) and Old Chinese 奮 (*pɯns, “spread wings and fly”).
; “fare”
; “femto-”

cog

飞
𠃧
𮨶
𩙱
𦐭
𦒮
飝


風

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (風):
* → Japanese: 風(ふう) (fū)
* → Korean: 풍(風) (pung)
* → Vietnamese: phong (風)

→? Old Korean: (via Old Chinese) (Zhao, 2007)

desctree

Middle Korean: ᄇᆞᄅᆞᆷ (polom, “wind”)
Korean: 바람 (baram)

Drung language
Jingpho language
Shuowen
dissimilation

Characters in the same phonetic series (凡) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *plum, *plums): phonetic 凡 (OC *bom) + semantic 虫 (“insects”); the point inside 凡 is still visible above the insect, hence this component appears as 䖝. Ancient Chinese people thought that insects appear with wind. (Insects refer to any kind of animal, such as tigers (大蟲)).
In the oracle bone script, the character 鳳 (OC *bums, “male fenghuang”) was phonetically borrowed to represent 風 (OC *plum, *plums). The right part of the bronze inscription of the character consists of phonetic 凡 (OC *bom) at the top, and three parts depicting the fur on the tail of the male fenghuang at the bottom. Subsequent forms of 風 are based on the right part of its bronze inscription, with two of the three threads of "fur" removed for simplification. The 虫 in the Chu script and Qin script of 風 was likely a result of further simplification of the "fur". Shuowen misinterpreted the character 風 by associating it with insects. (Li, 2012)
Possibly from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *buŋ (“wind”) (STEDT). Velar nasal final -ŋ, restored later in Middle Chinese (Schuessler, 2007), is preserved in cognates like Proto-Central Naga *m-puŋ, Jingpho mabung, nbung, Drung nvmbeung.
Pronunciations 1, 2, and 3 are all cognates; with both 2 and 3 evolving from *prəm-s, exoactive (with causative suffix -s) of *prəm (Schuessler, 2007). It is unclear how Old Chinese *prəm is related to Tibetan རླུང (rlung) and Proto-Tai *C̬.lɯmᴬ.
Korean 바람 (baram) may have been borrowed from Chinese (Zhao, 2007). The Chinese word has a wide range of extended meanings, and interestingly many of these have exact parallels in the Korean item. Compare Chinese 風流 and 風騷 with Korean 바람둥이 (baramdung'i).
Cognate with:
* 飛廉 (OC *pɯl ɡ·rem, “wind god”)
* 蜚蠊 (OC *pɯlʔ/bɯls ɡ·rem, “cockroach”) (note the preservation of the -r- infix in Old Chinese through disyllabification, also 嵐 (OC *b·ruːm), 葻 (OC *b·uːm))
* 瘋 (OC *plum, “mad, insane”)
* 諷 (OC *plums, “to mock, to advise”)
* 帆 (OC *bom, *boms, “sail”)
The development from Old Chinese to Middle Chinese was irregular, driven by dissimilation of the initial and coda bilabial consonants.

Han compound

风
凨
凬
𠙈
𠙄
𠙊
凮
𠙗
飌
𩙣
𠂡

風寒

风寒

風濕

风湿

traditional Chinese medicine
traditional Chinese medicine

(traditional Chinese medicine) one of the "Six Excesses" (六淫) that cause diseases in traditional Chinese medicine

(Cantonese) Short for 颱風／台风 (“typhoon”). (Classifier: 個／个 c; 隻／只 c)