犬

Bai: *qʰuaŋ²

/t͡ɕʰy̯ɛn²¹⁴/

/t͡ɕʰyɵn²¹³/

/t͡ɕʰy̯e̞⁴¹/

/t͡ɕʰy̯ɛn²¹⁴/

/t͡ɕʰyɵn²¹³/

/t͡ɕʰy̯e̞⁴¹/

Characters in the same phonetic series (犬) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Pictogram (象形) – the side view of a dog.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *d-kʷəj-n (“dog”); cognate with Tibetan ཁྱི (khyi, “dog”), Burmese ခွေး (hkwe:, “dog”).
This common Sino-Tibetan word has been replaced by 狗 (OC *koːʔ) in most topolects except Eastern Min, such as Fuzhou kēng. In other topolects, this word is mainly found in compounds and not used alone.

Han etyl

警犬

He who is presenting a horse or a sheep should lead it with his right hand. He who is presenting a dog should lead it with his left hand.

The Book of Rites, c. 4ᵗʰ – 2ⁿᵈ century BCE

Xiào mǎ xiào yáng zhě yòu qiān zhī; xiào quǎn zhě zuǒ qiān zhī.

效馬效羊者右牽之；效犬者左牽之。

效马效羊者右牵之；效犬者左牵之。

(formal or in compounds or Eastern Min, Waxiang, dialectal Wu) dog


丮

Pictogram (象形) — A person kneeling with their hands stretched out, as if they are holding something.


仌

Pictogram (象形) – two blocks of ice. Next to a character, they are compressed and stylized as 冫 (which is unrelated to 氵 and 次).


兕

𧣶
𠒅
咒
𠙃
𠒊
𠒃
𧤄
𩸟
𤉡
𧰽
𧱃
雉

Crack-making on bingzi [day]: "His Majesty will catch [game]." [Verification:] He really did catch wild buffalo, one.

Oracle bone from the reign of Wu Ding, thirteenth century B.C.E., quoted and translated in Working for His Majesty: Research Notes on Labor Mobilization in Late Shang China (ca. 1200–1045 B.C.) by David N. Keightley

丙子卜：王獲。允獲兕一。

丙子卜：王获。允获兕一。

When a tiger or rhinoceros^([sic]) escapes from his cage; when a tortoise or piece of jade is injured in its repository - whose is the fault?

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

Hǔ sì chū yú xiá, guī yù huǐ yú dúzhōng, shì shéi zhī guò yǔ?

虎兕出於柙，龜玉毀於櫝中，是誰之過與？

虎兕出于柙，龟玉毁于椟中，是谁之过与？

Otherwise, it is because rhinoceros, yaks, wild bovids and elephants in Ba and Pu have become extinct, and for this reason you use my recommendations as earplugs (which are made from the bones of these exotic animals)?

Bùrán, Bā Pǔ zhī xī, máo/lí, sì, xiàng, qí kě jìn hū, qí yòu yǐ guī wéi tiàn yě?

不然，巴浦之犀、犛、兕、象，其可盡乎，其又以規為瑱也？

不然，巴浦之犀、牦、兕、象，其可尽乎，其又以规为瑱也？

Schuessler 2007
Wiktionary:About Chinese/references#S

a kind of bovine-like animal; traditionally often thought of as a female rhinoceros (Bencao Gangmu), modern research suggests it probably originally referred to wild water buffalo (Schuessler 2007).


冎

Pictogram (象形) - a skull. The pictographic protoform of 骨.


勹

Pictogram (象形): a person bending over. Compare with 人 and 尸. In 包, it represents the placenta around a fetus 巳.


卩

Pictogram (象形): a kneeling person from sideview. Similar but unrelated to 欠, in which the person kneeling has the mouth open, and 女, in which the kneeling figure is a woman.

𠁾 – but it also indicates the node on a bamboo pole

巴

not used independently since it would represent the pictogram of a snake.


囟

Pictogram (象形) – fontanelle. See also 𡿺 and its simplification 㐫.


夅

Pictogram (象形) – feet pointing down, descending (feet at top, legs pointing down – upside-down). Compare footprints in 舛 (chuǎn), and foot in 夂 (zhǐ), 夊 (suī).


夨

Pictogram (象形) - a man tilting his head.


屰

Pictogram (象形) – an upside down human figure (大 inverted) – opposite, backwards, opposing. In the small script version, a horizontal stroke was added perhaps to emphasize the fact that the man is upside down. Original form of 逆.

Original form of 逆 (nì, “to go against”).


夕

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

och-l

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

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

哀我征夫、朝夕不暇。

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

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

今夕何夕兮，搴舟中流。今日何日兮，得與王子同舟。

今夕何夕兮，搴舟中流。今日何日兮，得与王子同舟。

GT - General Taiwanese (no particular region identified)


帚

Characters in the same phonetic series (帚) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Pictogram (象形) – a broom with bristles on top and tied handle on the bottom.
In modern form, top now resembles 聿 (“hand”), 肀 (“brush”), 彐, and overall graphically decomposes roughly as 肀 + 冖 + 巾.


戉

Pictogram (象形) – a battle axe, the original form of 鉞. Almost identical to 戌.
Possibly an Austronesian loan, since this kind of axe has been discovered in archaeological sites in areas where Austronesian languages were once spoken; compare Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *wasay (“axe”), Cebuano wasay (Mahdi, 1994; Schuessler, 2007). Also compare Proto-Mon-Khmer *wac (“knife; sword”), Old Mon rwas (“weapon”) (Schuessler, 2007).

(historical) Original form of 鉞／钺 (yuè, “a type of battle axe used in ancient China”).


戊

→ Zhuang: fouh


攴

Originally a pictogram (象形) or ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): a hand (又) holding a tool of some sort (possibly a weapon or whip), meaning “to hit”. Also
phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *pʰoːɡ, *pʰroːɡ): phonetic 卜 (OC *poːɡ) + semantic 又 (“hand”). Today, the character is mostly stylized except in some archaic variants.
Similar but unrelated to 支, 伊, and 父. The stylized version is unrelated to 囱 (> 窗) and 文.


斝

(historical) jia (a kind of ritual wine vessel, usually bronze with a round mouth, three legs, and two protruding pillars)


朿

Pictogram (象形) – a tree 木 with thorns.
Alternatively, according to Ji Xusheng (2012), it is a pictogram (象形) depicting a three-pointed spear.


椉

Pictogram (象形): 亠 + 舛 (“feet”) + 木 (“tree”) – a person climbing a tree.


甗

Initially a pictogram (象形) of a two-part cooking vessel. Later 虍 was added and the cooking vessel became 鬲, producing 鬳.
In the current form, an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) and phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ŋan, *ŋranʔ, *ŋrans): phonetic 鬳 (OC *ŋans, “cooking vessel”) + semantic 瓦 (“earthenware”).

Han compound

See also: 甑, 鬲, 箅

(historical) earthenware cooking vessel consisting of a large steamer stacked on top of a smaller boiler and separated by a grate


甶

Pictogram (象形) – face/head of a ghost/spirit/demon, according to the Shuowen. However, it could be a mask.


疋

Pictogram (象形) – a foot 止 with a leg/thigh on top; the pictogram is similar to 足. Unrelated with the bottom part of 是, which is 止 on oracle bones.


箙

Originally a pictogram (象形) – one or two arrows in a quiver.
In the bronze inscriptions, the arrowhead merged with the quiver into 用, giving rise to the form now written 𤰈 and inherited in the character 備.
The modern form 箙 is a phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *bɯɡ): semantic 𥫗 (“bamboo”) + phonetic 服 (OC *bɯɡ).


粦

Oracle bone script: Pictogram (象形) – a person (大) with dots above and below the arms, depicting will o' the wisp around a human body.
In the bronze script, feet (舛) were added to the bottom. In the small seal script, 舛 is graphically detached from the corpse with the dots, which corrupts into the unrelated 炎; Shuowen erroneously interprets it as an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 炎 (“fire; flame”) + 舛 (“feet”). In the regular script, the top further corrupts into the unrelated 米.

Original form of 燐／磷 (“will o' the wisp”).


网

Pictogram (象形) – a net. Sometimes, the web on top is stylized as 罒, which is unrelated to the eye 目: see 買, 罵, 詈 (used in 罰), 罷, and 羅 (> 罗), in which it represents a net.

冈
罔
𦉪
𦉫
罒
𦉰
䍏
𦉳
𦉯
𠕈
𠕃
𦉮
𦊀
𦉺
𦉾
𦌅


艸

Pictogram (象形) – grass blades. Basically, it's 屮 written twice. See also the top component of 春 in its original version.
䒑, used in 前, is sometimes presented as a variant of this character, but it actually represents a foot 止 over a boat.


萈

Pictogram (象形) – a goat, showing its horns, head, legs and tail. Shuowen erroneously considers it to be a phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡoːn): phonetic 𥄕 () + semantic [Term?] (“legs of a rabbit”).


虍

Pictogram (象形) – tiger's head.
Compare 虎 which includes the body.


蛛

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *to): semantic 虫 (“insect”) + phonetic 朱 (OC *tjo). Originally a pictogram (象形) of a spider. Later, 朱 was added to the pictograph to indicate sound. In small seal script, the character became written as the characters 鼄／𬹣 and 蛛.

Used in 蜘蛛 (zhīzhū, “spider”); also used as its short form.

QJ - between ancient Qin and JinZW - in the vicinity of ancient Zhao and WeiNY - between Northern Yan


豕

Pictogram (象形) – a pig. Compare 亥, 𢑓 (male pig), and 豖 (castrated male pig). See also the original version on oracle bones of 敢.
Related to 㒸, in which however the pig is a phonetic component.
Possibly from Austroasiatic (Schuessler, 2007). Compare Proto-Mon-Khmer *liik ~ *lik (“pig”) and Mon ကၠိက် (kloik, “pig”). Also occurs in the Cai-Long languages, from which Hölzl (2021) derives the name Ta-Li for the aforementioned language subgroup.

There are many swine, with their trotters white, wading through the waves.

有豕白蹢、烝涉波矣。


釆

Pictogram (象形). According to Shuowen Jiezi, it's an animal paw with spread toes, hence the character is linked to 蹯.
According to Zhang Shichao (張世超), it's the representation of a wooden plough (力) and some seeds to convey the concept of "disseminate, spread", hence the character is linked to 播.
Unrelated to the top component of 𢍏, used in 奧.
Exopassive of 辨 (OC *brenʔ, “to divide, distinguish, discriminate”); possibly in the same word-family as another exopassive 瓣 (OC *breːns, “what is divided”). These three thus may be related to either 班 (OC *praːn, “to distribute → to arrange, classify → class, group”) or Mizo pʰel (“to split, cut in halves”) (with medial *-r- dropped after labial initials according to Mizo phonotactics) (Schuessler, 2007).


雧

Pictogram (象形) – three birds (隹 (zhuī)) gathering in the tree (木 (mù)).


頮

Pictogram (象形): A human, head emphasised (頁), with both hands (廾) holding water (水).


韭

/t͡ɕi̯oʊ̯²¹⁴/

/t͡ɕi̯əu̯⁴¹/

/t͡ɕi̯oʊ̯²¹⁴/

/t͡ɕi̯əu̯⁴¹/

Pictogram (象形) – leek in the ground (一). Unrelated to 非.

Allium tuberosum
Allium tuberosum#Translingual

garlic chives; Chinese chives; Chinese leek (Allium tuberosum)


髭

Originally a pictogram (象形) depicting a man with a prominent mustache.
Later written 頿 or 頾, a phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ʔse): semantic 須 (“beard”) + phonetic 此 (OC *sʰeʔ), where 須 is the original form of 鬚.
In the modern form, a phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ʔse): semantic 髟 (“hair”) + phonetic 此 (OC *sʰeʔ).


黹

Pictogram (象形). It could represent a decoration similar to a cloud used on bronzes and dresses. Similar but unrelated to 敝.


𠂢

Pictogram (象形). The horizontal flip of 永 (yǒng).

Original form of 派 (pài, “tributary of a river”).


𠂤

Pictogram (象形) – hills. It could also represent buttocks, but it's less likely.
In 官 it represents multiple rooms under a roof. See also 師 (> 师) and 追.


𨸏

Pictogram (象形) of a row of steps on a hill. Found in the Shuowen Jiezi 《說文解字 (Shuōwén Jiězì)》 etymological dictionary.


𣎆

Pictogram (象形) – a kind of dragon, either a Panlong/acquatic dragon (蟠龍) or a Chi/dragon without horns (螭); both of these kinds of dragon were a decorative motive in ancient Chinese art. Compare 龍.
Written as 𦟀 in the small seal script.

Luò, a kind of dragon (either a Panlong or a Chi)


𦣞

Pictogram (象形). Possibly depicts the chin, in which case it is the original form of 頤.


𣎳

Pictogram (象形): a hemp stalk (屮) with skin (八) being stripped off.

^‡ to strip off the skin or outer covering of the hemp stalk


𠦒

Pictogram (象形) – a hunting net. Original form of 禽 and 畢 in oracle bone script. Compare with 單


𡈼

Related to 挺 (OC *l'eːŋ, *l'eːŋʔ, “to stick out, straighten up; straight, stiff; quite”); see there for more (STEDT).
Pictogram (象形): A human (亻) standing on soil (土).


𤰈

Pictogram (象形) – one or two arrows in a quiver. Originally written 箙, see there for more.


𥄉

/t͡ɕi̯ɑʊ̯⁵⁵/

/t͡ɕi̯ɑʊ̯⁵⁵/

Pictogram (象形). An upside down 首 (shǒu) (“head”).

an ancient penalty. to remove one's head and hang it upside down


𡿺

Pictogram (象形): semantic 巛 (“hair”) + semantic 囟 (“fontanel”).


𢑓

Pictogram (象形) – a pig with penis, meaning "male pig". Shuowen considered this character "pig with foot" (从彑，下象其足), which is incorrect.
See also 家 (jiā). Compare 豖, in which the male pig is castrated since the penis is detached from his body.
See 豭 (jiā).


𠙹

Pictogram (象形) – a bamboo container. Attested since oracle bones script. (Lexi-MF)
Shuo Wen said a clay vessel (缶) was known by this word in eastern Chu and this glyph depicted so.