Definitions

tǐng stalk, wooden club; straight

Etymology phono-semantic

wood

Semantic: Phonetic:

About

is a phono-semantic compound, with (wood) as the semantic radical and as the phonetic. Its original meaning is a straight wooden stick, club, or truncheon used as a rudimentary weapon or tool. Over time, the character became largely restricted to plain, unadorned wooden staves or bludgeons, often appearing in historical texts on civilian weaponry and improvised defense. This straightforward pairing of material and sound distinguishes it from other wood-radical characters.

Etymology Hide

Seal etymology image
Seal Shuowen (~100 AD)
Clerical etymology image
Clerical Qin dynasty (221-206 BC)
Clerical etymology image
Clerical Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)
Clerical etymology image
Clerical Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)
Traditional Modern
Simplified Modern