Chinese

鞋

xié
shoe; footwear (Classifier: 雙／双 m mn; 對／对 c; 隻／只)
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 2
  • radical 革
  • 15 strokes

Etymology graph

  • inherited
  • borrowed
  • derived
  • parts
  • meaning component
  • sound component
  • related
React Flow

點擊節點放大 · Click a node to zoom in

Origin

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *ɡreː, *ɡreː, *ɡreː): semantic 革 (“leather”) + phonetic 圭 (OC *kʷeː) – leather shoes. Originally written as 鞵.

Originally, the phonetic component is not related to the concept of earth (土) since in its original form it represents a pair of ritual axes perhaps made of jade 士. Hence, the link to the concept of earth in this character either comes from folk etymology or its appearance in the Small Seal script.

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • meaningChinese革 “leather; animal hide”
  • soundChinese圭 “jade pointed at top”
    • componentChinese士 “unmarried male; bachelor”

Sources