Dong Chinese dictionary

shì, sì

resemble

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 以 represents the sound.

Components

亻 Meaning component

rén

person

亻 is a component form of 人.

以 Sound component

yǐ

by means of

似 and 以 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in older Chinese.似 /*sə.ləʔ/
以 /*ləʔ/

Evolution

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)

Clerical script

Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)

Clerical script

Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)

Regular script

Modern

Definitions

shì

resemble, similar to; as if, seem; see 似的[shìde]

sì

to seem; to appear; to resemble; similar; -like; pseudo-; (more) than

sì

old variant of 似[sì]

Most common words with 似

Sources