Dong Chinese dictionary

guǎ

widowed, alone

live alone

Depicts a person living alone in a house (宀). The decorative strokes around the 頁 component corrupted into the unrelated 分.

Components

宀 Iconic component

mián

roof

頁 Iconic component

yè, xié

(head), page

Used here to depict a person.

◎ Unknown component

characterless component

Originally depicted decorative strokes around 頁. Modern form looks like unrelated 分.

Evolution

Bronze script

Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Regular script

Modern

Definitions

guǎ

widowed; alone, friendless; few; scant

Most common words with 寡

Freq.	Word	Meaning
	寡妇	widow
	寡	few
	优柔寡断	indecisive
	寡人	I (first person pronoun used by royalty or nobility)
	沉默寡言	reticent

Sources