词cí
Character evolution
词
Hover to feel · click to explore
Simplified · Today
繁体
Traditional Chinese
← → navigate · swipe on mobile
Shuowen
Word. The character 词 is formed from the speech radical 讠 (simplified from 言) beside 司, a component that appears on oracle bones and originally meant “to rule” or “to hold”; together they depict words proceeding from a ruler’s mouth. The original meaning was “speech, words”, later extended to “term” or “phrase”, and it is written this way because the speech radical indicates language while 司 provides both sound and the notion of authoritative utterance.
Pinyin
cí· HSK 2