Dong Chinese dictionary

xiù

elegant, excellent

Depicts a grain seedling (禾) pulled out (引) of the ground. The meaning later expanded to "bloom", "blossom", "elegant", and "excellent".

Components

禾 Iconic component

hé

grain stalk

引 Iconic Remnant component

yǐn

to pull

Modern form looks like 乃.

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 引 than it was in ancient scripts.

Evolution

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)

Clerical script

Western Jin dynasty (266-316 AD)

Regular script

Modern

Definitions

秀

xiù

ear of grain; flowering, luxuriant; refined, elegant, graceful; handsome; refined; elegant; graceful; superior; show (loanword); CL:場|场[cháng]; (literary) to grow; to bloom; (of crops) to produce ears

Most common words with 秀

Freq.	Word	Meaning
	秀	handsome
	优秀	outstanding
	秀发	beautiful hair
	秀丽	pretty
	秀美	elegant

Component uses

Meaning component in 2 characters (0 verified)

誘诱

Sound component in 7 characters (1 verified)

Sources

MTSU Chinese text computing

李学勤《字源》p.632

漢語多功能字庫

Freq.

Word

Meaning