Definitions

zhū an ancient feudal state in Shandong province

Etymology phono-semantic

place

Semantic: Phonetic:

About

(zhū) combines the phonetic (zhū) with the semantic component , the right-side form of (yì), which denotes a city or state. It was coined for the State of Zhu, a minor Zhou Dynasty vassal that persisted into the Spring and Autumn period. After the state's conquest and assimilation, the character became a surname, carrying the ancestral legacy of its inhabitants. Today it functions only as a geographical and genealogical marker, with no general meaning.

Etymology Hide

Bronze etymology image
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn (~500 BC)
Bronze etymology image
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn (~500 BC)
Seal etymology image
Seal Chu (Warring States: 475-221 BC)
Seal etymology image
Seal Shuowen (~100 AD)
Clerical etymology image
Clerical Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)
Clerical etymology image
Clerical Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
Clerical etymology image
Clerical Cao Wei (Three Kingdoms: 222-280 AD)
Traditional Modern
Simplified Modern